The match expression introduced in PHP 8.0 provides a concise and predictable way to compare a value against various patterns and execute specific code based on the match. It uses strict comparison (===) and allows returning a value, making it more powerful than the traditional switch statement.
Example 1: Vehicles
Condition: Determine the type of vehicle based on its number of wheels.
$vehicle = "motorcycle";
$wheels = match ($vehicle) {
"car" => 4,
"motorcycle" => 2,
"truck" => 6,
default => throw new Exception("Unknown vehicle type.")
};
echo "The $vehicle has $wheels wheels.";
Explanation:
- The match expression takes the variable $vehicle as its subject.
- Each arm of the match expression checks if the subject value matches the specified pattern (string in this case).
- If a match is found, the corresponding expression (number of wheels) is returned.
- The default arm is used if none of the previous conditions are met.
- The output will be: "The motorcycle has 2 wheels."
Example 2: Products
Condition: Apply different discounts based on the product category.
$category = "electronics";
$discount = match ($category) {
"electronics" => 0.1,
"clothing" => 0.2,
"furniture" => 0.15,
default => 0,
};
echo "The product has a $discount discount.";
Explanation:
- The match expression checks the product category stored in $category.
- Depending on the category, different discount rates are defined in each arm.
- The final discount value is assigned to the variable $discount.
-
The output will be: "The product has a 0.1 discount."
Example:3
function getCategory($item) {
return match ($item) {
'car', 'truck', 'motorcycle' => 'Vehicles',
'laptop', 'phone', 'tablet' => 'Electronics',
'shirt', 'shoes', 'pants' => 'Clothing',
default => 'Other'
};
}
echo getCategory('car'); // Outputs: Vehicles
echo getCategory('tablet'); // Outputs: Electronics
echo getCategory('shoes'); // Outputs: Clothing
echo getCategory('lamp'); // Outputs: Other
The function called getCategory that takes a single argument, $item, and returns the category that the item belongs to.
The getCategory function uses a match statement to compare the value of $item against different patterns and return a corresponding category. Each "case" of the statement specifies a list of acceptable values for $item, and the arrow (=>) separates the pattern from the associated category.
