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rg/wiki/C_(programming_language)">C programming, two commonly used conditional statements are the “if-else” statement and the “switch” statement. While both serve the purpose of decision-making, they have distinct characteristics and use cases. In this article, we will delve into the differences and similarities between these two conditional statements to help you make informed choices in your coding journey.

Understanding the Basics if-else vs. switch in C Language

Before we dive into the differences, let’s briefly review the basic syntax and purpose of both the “if-else” and “switch” statements.

if-else Statement in C Language:

An “if-else” statement executes a set of statements based on a condition’s truth value. If the condition is true, the “if” block is executed; otherwise, the “else” block is executed. Here’s the syntax:

if (expression) {
    // statements;
} else {
    // statements;
}

switch Statement in C Language:

A “switch” statement checks the value of a variable against multiple cases and executes the corresponding block of code when a match is found. If no match is found, a default block (if defined) is executed. The syntax is as follows:

switch (expression) {
    case constant1:
        // statements;
        break;
    case constant2:
        // statements;
        break;
    // ... (more cases)
    default:
        // statements;
}

Similarities between if-else and switch in C Language:

Both “if-else” and “switch” statements serve as decision-making tools, where the outcome of an expression determines which set of statements to execute.

Differences between if-else and switch statements:

	if-else	switch
Definition	Depending on the condition in the ‘if’ statement, ‘if’ and ‘else’ blocks are executed.	The user will decide which statement is to be executed.
Expression	It contains either logical or equality expression.	It contains a single expression which can be either a character or integer variable.
Evaluation	It evaluates all types of data, such as integer, floating-point, character or Boolean.	It evaluates either an integer, or character.
Sequence of execution	First, the condition is checked. If the condition is true then ‘if’ block is executed otherwise ‘else’ block	It executes one case after another till the break keyword is not found, or the default statement is executed.
Default execution	If the condition is not true, then by default, else block will be executed.	If the value does not match with any case, then by default, default statement is executed.
Editing	Editing is not easy in the ‘if-else’ statement.	Cases in a switch statement are easy to maintain and modify. Therefore, we can say that the removal or editing of any case will not interrupt the execution of other cases.
Speed	If there are multiple choices implemented through ‘if-else’, then the speed of the execution will be slow.	If we have multiple choices then the switch statement is the best option as the speed of the execution will be much higher than ‘if-else’.