Multi-variable switch statement in C#

Yes. It’s supported as of .NET 4.7 and C# 8. The syntax is nearly what you mentioned, but with some parenthesis (see tuple patterns).

switch ((intVal1, strVal2, boolVal3))
{
    case (1, "hello", false):
        break;
    case (2, "world", false):
        break;
    case (2, "hello", false):
        break;
}

If you want to switch and return a value there’s a switch “expression syntax”. Here is an example; note the use of _ for the default case:

string result = (intVal1, strVal2, boolVal3) switch
{
    (1, "hello", false) => "Combination1",
    (2, "world", false) => "Combination2",
    (2, "hello", false) => "Combination3",
    _ => "Default"
};

Here is a more illustrative example (a rock, paper, scissors game) from the MSDN article linked above:

public static string RockPaperScissors(string first, string second)
    => (first, second) switch
    {
        ("rock", "paper") => "rock is covered by paper. Paper wins.",
        ("rock", "scissors") => "rock breaks scissors. Rock wins.",
        ("paper", "rock") => "paper covers rock. Paper wins.",
        ("paper", "scissors") => "paper is cut by scissors. Scissors wins.",
        ("scissors", "rock") => "scissors is broken by rock. Rock wins.",
        ("scissors", "paper") => "scissors cuts paper. Scissors wins.",
        (_, _) => "tie"
    };

Leave a Comment

tech