(11-26-2011, 11:13 PM)puma Wrote: What's your question, because what you posted seemed more like a comment than a question...

If you're wanting to switch based on user input you can read it into a string and then compare it to an expected value and execute what you want.

For example

if ((userInput.Compare("something") == 0)) {
system("something here");
} else if ((userInput.Compare("something else") == 0)) {
system("something else here");
}

(11-26-2011, 11:24 PM)Diabolic666 Wrote: I wanted to know if I could do like this:

Code:

string x;

switch (x)

    case "sometext":
    {...}

But I've found a better way to do what I wanted:

Code:

cin >> input;
cin.get();
system(input);

Simple as that, although I would still want to know if I could do what I indicated

(11-27-2011, 10:57 PM)puma Wrote: No, you can't switch on a string in c++. The only way to do it is with if statments and compare

(11-29-2011, 11:46 AM)Frooxius Wrote: C/C++ doesn't even support string datatype natively. What it uses are basically arrays of datatype char, terminated with a null character (basically equal to zero). In case of C++, there's a String class in the STL library, which is part of C++ standard, this is however still a library, therefore can't be mixed with the language construct themselves like that.

Keep in mind, that C/C++ are very close to machine language, they are more low level languages than other languages you may now, so they provide less level of abstraction - meaning what some language can do for you (like switch with a string), you have to do it for yourself, as it's something that can't be done directly on the most contemporary hardware.

C/C++ switch needs to be used with a number, which the processor can work with directly. So if you have for example this:

Code:

switch(a)
{
case 3:
   ...
   break;
case 8:
   ...
   break;
default:
  ...
}

It will get translated into something like this:

Code:

CMP 3, [a]
JNE case_8
...
JMP end_switch
case_8:
CMP 8, [a]
JNE case_default
...
JMP end_switch
case_default:
...
end_switch:

Notice the CMP (compare) instructions, that work with numbers. They can't work with a string, because even the most simple type of string is an array of arbitrary size in the memory and I can't remember any specific processor that could work with them natively.

So what is needed to do, is to somehow convert the string to a number. This can be done in C/C++ as following:

The Solution

You basically need to make an list of strings that you expect and make an enumeration with appropriate names for expected strings. Then define a function, that will translate the input string into the number, that corresponds with your enumeration - enumeration names correspond to a integer number, so they can be used with a switch.

This is a working C++ example, using standard C++. If you have any further questions, asks, feel free to alter it to suit your needs and use in any projects.

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <istream>
using namespace std;

// List if strings you want to decode, in textual form
char *input_strings[] =
{
    "COPY",
    "MOVE",
    "BURP",
    "HUG",
    "GLOMP",
    "EXIT"
};

// List of corresponding names for strings you want to decode, MUST match intput_strings
enum decoded_string
{
    strCOPY,
    strMOVE,
    strBURP,
    strHUG,
    strGLOMP,
    strEXIT,

    strTERMINATOR    // MANDATORY! Must be always at the end of the list and must be always there
};

// decode function - goes trough input_strings and matches it to the input string
decoded_string DecodeString(char *input_string)
{
    int i;
    for(i = 0; i < strTERMINATOR; ++i)
        if(!strcmp(input_string, input_strings[i]))
            break;

    return (decoded_string)i;
}

int main()
{
    char input[256];
    // infinite loop, not the best solution but... ah well :P
    for(;;)
    {
        cout << "Enter command: ";
        cin.getline(input, 256);    // get the user input

        // Tamtadadada! Using string with switch? Miracles? Nah, just Frooxius was here x3
        switch( DecodeString(input) )
        {
        case strCOPY:
            cout << "Copy what? Where?! I'm confused AAAAARGH\n";
            break;

        case strMOVE:
            cout << "No. YOU move.\n";
            break;

        case strBURP:
            cout << "Ewww, that's disgusting :-/\n";
            break;

        case strHUG:
            cout << "YAAAAY! Hugs! ^^\n";
            break;

        case strGLOMP:
            cout << "*glomps the user*\n";
            break;

        case strEXIT:
            cout << "BYEEEEE\n";
            return 0;

        default:
            cout << "I'm not sure what you mean by that...\n";
            break;
        }
    }
}