Lookups instead of Switch

gistfile1.aw

<?php

# Instead of

$name = 'Jeff';
switch ($name) {
    case 'Jeff':
        echo "I'm Jeff";
        break;
    case 'Joe':
        echo "I'm Joe";
        break;
    case 'John':
        echo "I'm John";
        break;
}

# Do
$lookup = array(
   "Jeff" => "I'm Jeff",
   "Joe"  => "I'm Joe",
   "John" => "I'm John",
   "default" => "I'm Error"
);

echo $lookup[$name];

# Or if you need a default
echo isset($lookup[$name]) ? $lookup[$name] : $lookup['default'];

I do this when creating custom form errors. Setup an errors array and then use the cleansed $_POST key submitted as the lookup. Works great.

Handy solution with simple return values. In case of more complex actions, I usually use callback functions.