Can I use a variable in a switch statement?

Question

I am coding a text based adventure, and am having a problem. I am trying to make a switch statement case that handles every examination action you want, and am getting this for my code so far:

case "examine" + string x:
    //this is a method that I made that makes sure that it is an object in the area
    bool iseobj = tut.Check(x);
    if (iseobj)
        x.examine();
    else
        Console.WriteLine("That isn't an object to examine");
    break;

How do I use a variable in my case statement? I want any string starting with "examine" + (x) to trigger the case.

You mean you want this as an variable Console.WriteLine("That isn't an object to examine"); ? — julianstark999
– julianstark999, Commented Jul 8, 2016 at 5:18
cases in switch statement must be constant. it cannot contain variables — M.kazem Akhgary
– M.kazem Akhgary, Commented Jul 8, 2016 at 5:24
I edited your question to be more clear, let me know if I understood it correctly :) — Nate Barbettini
– Nate Barbettini, Commented Jul 8, 2016 at 6:02

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:44:14Z

6

Your scenario would fit into an if-else statement better than a switch statement. In C#, a switch can only evaluate values, not expressions. This means you can't do:

case input.StartsWith("examine"):

However, you can make this work with an if statement! Consider doing the following:

if (input.StartsWith("examine"))
{
    //this is a method that I made that makes sure that it is an object in the area
    bool iseobj = tut.Check(x);
    if (iseobj)
        x.examine();
    else
        Console.WriteLine("That isn't an object to examine");
}
else if (...) // other branches here

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:44

CommunityBot

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answered Jul 8, 2016 at 5:26

Nate Barbettini

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6 Comments

user585968 Over a year ago

Should case StartsWith( read case input.StartsWith( ? Otherwise jolly good answer

Nate Barbettini Over a year ago

@MickyD Thanks for the catch!

Arthur Rey Over a year ago

@Fireball175 If you want to get your x variable you could do string x = s.Split(new[] { "examine" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries)[0] inside the if.

Fireball175 Over a year ago

@ArthurRey it says string doesn't contain a defenition for 'examine', any ideas?

Fireball175 Over a year ago

@ArthurRey figuring out how to fix it, but thankyou so much for the help, I really appreciate it.

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