Pattern Matching and Switch Expressions
Learn how to replace verbose conditional statements with concise, functional switch expressions and advanced pattern matching.
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Earlier in this course, we explored the traditional switch statement. It evaluates a variable and executes a block of code using case labels and break keywords. This is known as control flow.
The switch expression
Modern C# introduces the switch expression. Instead of executing blocks of code, a switch expression evaluates a variable and directly returns a single value. This enables a more functional style and eliminates the boilerplate associated with traditional statements.
The syntax differs structurally. In a switch expression, the variable comes before the switch keyword. The case and : keywords are replaced by the expression lambda (=>), and the default keyword is replaced by the discard pattern (_).