Thread: Can "switch" based on std::string?

Code:

string x = "test1";
switch(x){
case "test1" : break;
case "test2" : break;
default : break;
}

Why this doesn't work for string?

Because switch only uses integer constants, and "test1" is not an integer constant.

but switch can also base on char, not only an integer

If the strings you want to switch on are part of a set, you could create an enum of the same set, then create a StringToEnum() function which converts the string you pass to it into an enum. Then you can just do your switch on the enum.

Originally Posted by Bubba

You can map strings to enumerations to alleviate your issue and also provide a common place where the string literals are defined.

Header

Code:

enum TestStringIDs
{
   TEST_ID1,
   TEST_ID2,
   END_OF_IDs
}

struct StringToID
{
   TestStringIDs  ID;
   std::string Text;
}

Source

Code:

StringToID StringToIDBridge [] = {
{TEST_ID1,"Test string 1"},
{TEST_ID2,"Test string 2"} };

This is great for mapping string literals to enumerations and can easily be loaded from a config file later. One string compare can be done within a loop and then the ID can be retrieved or vice versa. StringToID::END_OF_IDs is so that you can iterate the enumeration from 0 to END_OF_IDs.

Just food for thought.

Maybe a std::map<TestStringIDs, std::string> would be a better choice then?