How can I compare strings in C using a `switch` statement?

Question

In C there is a switch construct which enables one to execute different conditional branches of code based on an test integer value, e.g.,

int a;
/* Read the value of "a" from some source, e.g. user input */
switch (a) {
  case 100:
    // Code
    break;
  case 200:
    // Code
    break;
  default:
    // Code
    break;
}

How is it possible to obtain the same behavior (i.e. avoid the so-called "if-else ladder") for a string value, i.e., a char *?

Answer 1

If you mean, how to write something similar to this:

// switch statement
switch (string) {
  case "B1": 
    // do something
    break;
  /* more case "xxx" parts */
}

Then the canonical solution in C is to use an if-else ladder:

if (strcmp(string, "B1") == 0) 
{
  // do something
} 
else if (strcmp(string, "xxx") == 0)
{
  // do something else
}
/* more else if clauses */
else /* default: */
{
}