Is this a valid way to get switch case like functionality in python?

Question

I am doing something like this and it works but I am not sure if it is the right way to do it. When there is an exception in one of the case methods the trace stops at the line containing }["case1"]("name"). But the reason for the error is correct like if I was expecting a dict and passed a list I will get a list is unhashable exception but on }["case1"]("name") not in the method where that is happening it will stop the traceback here. So if this goes a few levels deep debugging it can become... tricky.

def test(what, data):
    def case1(data):
        # do something with data
        result =  "Hello " + data
        return result

    def case2(data):
        # do something with data
        result = "bye " + foo 
        return result
    res = {
        "case1": case1,
        "case2": case2
    }[what](data)
    print(res)

test("case1", "Foo")

DocDriven · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-05 09:39:48Z

1

Separate the dict definition and the call, and you'll be fine:

def test(what, data):
    def case1(data):
        # do something with data
        result =  "Hello " + data
        return result

    def case2(data):
        # do something with data
        result = "bye " + foo 
        return result
    res = {
        "case1": case1,
        "case2": case2
    }
    print(res[what](data))

test("case1", "Foo")

answered Aug 5, 2019 at 9:39

DocDriven

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