PHPmatch Expression

The PHP Match Expression

Thematch expression provides a new way to handle multiple conditional checks (like theswitch statement).

Thematch expression evaluates an expression against multiple alternatives (using strict comparison) and returns a value. 

Here are the key differences betweenmatch andswitch:

• Amatch expression has a more readable syntax thanswitch
• Amatch expression returns a value, whileswitch does not
• Amatch expression breaks automatically after a match, whileswitch requiresbreak;
• Amatch expression has strict comparison (===), whileswitch uses loose comparison (==)

Syntax for match

$result = match($expression) {  condition1 => returnvalue1,  condition2 => returnvalue2,  condition3, condition4 => returnvalue3,  default => defaultvalue,}

Tip: The default arm catches all expressions that are not matched.

The following example is equal to the example on theswitch page, but here we use the thematch expression:

$favcolor = "red";$text = match($favcolor) {  "red" => "Your favorite color is red!",  "blue" => "Your favorite color is blue!",  "green" => "Your favorite color is green!",  default => "Your favorite color is neither red, blue, nor green!",};echo $text;

Match Multiple Values

If you want thematch expression to match multiple values for the same code block, you can group them with commas, like this:

$d = 3;$text = match($d) {  1, 2, 3, 4, 5 => "The week feels so long!",  6, 0 => "Weekends are best!",  default => "Invalid day",};echo $text;

The default Keyword

In amatch expression, theremust be a condition that matches the expression,or a default case, to handle it.

If there are no matches, and no default case, thematch expression throws an UnhandledMatchError exception.

$favcolor = "pink"; // no conditions will match thistry {  $text = match($favcolor) {    "red" => "Your favorite color is red!",    "blue" => "Your favorite color is blue!",    "green" => "Your favorite color is green!",  };} catch (\UnhandledMatchError $e) {  var_dump($e);}echo $text;