Go's `switch` is more general than C's. The expressions need not be constants or even integers, the cases are evaluated top to bottom until a match is found, and if the `switch` has no expression it switches on *true*. It's therefore possible — and idiomatic — to write an `if-else-if-else` chain as a `switch`.

```go
func unhex(c byte) byte {
    switch {
    case '0' <= c && c <= '9':
        return c - '0'
    case 'a' <= c && c <= 'f':
        return c - 'a' + 10
    case 'A' <= c && c <= 'F':
        return c - 'A' + 10
    }
    return 0
}
```

There is no automatic fall through, but cases can be presented in comma-separated lists.

```go
func shouldEscape(c byte) bool {
    switch c {
    case ' ', '?', '&', '=', '#', '+', '%':
        return true
    }
    return false
}
```

Although they are not nearly as common in Go as some other C-like languages, `break` statements can be used to terminate a `switch` early. Sometimes, though, it's necessary to break out of a surrounding loop, not the switch, and in Go that can be accomplished by putting a label on the loop and "breaking" to that label. This example shows both uses.

```go
Loop:
    for n := 0; n < len(src); n += size {
        switch {
        case src[n] < sizeOne:
            if validateOnly {
                break
            }
            size = 1
            update(src[n])

        case src[n] < sizeTwo:
            if n+1 >= len(src) {
                err = errShortInput
                break Loop
            }
            if validateOnly {
                break
            }
            size = 2
            update(src[n] + src[n+1]<<shift)
        }
    }
```

Of course, the continue statement also accepts an optional label but it applies only to loops.

To close this section, here's a comparison routine for byte slices that uses two `switch` statements:

```go
// Compare returns an integer comparing the two byte slices,
// lexicographically.
// The result will be 0 if a == b, -1 if a < b, and +1 if a > b
func Compare(a, b []byte) int {
    for i := 0; i < len(a) && i < len(b); i++ {
        switch {
        case a[i] > b[i]:
            return 1
        case a[i] < b[i]:
            return -1
        }
    }
    switch {
    case len(a) > len(b):
        return 1
    case len(a) < len(b):
        return -1
    }
    return 0
}
```

# type switch
A `switch` can also be used to discover the dynamic type of an interface variable. Such a `type switch` uses the syntax of a type assertion with the keyword `type` inside the parentheses. If the `switch` declares a variable in the expression, the variable will have the corresponding type in each clause. It's also idiomatic to reuse the name in such cases, in effect declaring a new variable with the same name but a different type in each case.

```go
var t interface{}
t = functionOfSomeType()
switch t := t.(type) {
default:
    fmt.Printf("unexpected type %T\n", t)     // %T prints whatever type t has
case bool:
    fmt.Printf("boolean %t\n", t)             // t has type bool
case int:
    fmt.Printf("integer %d\n", t)             // t has type int
case *bool:
    fmt.Printf("pointer to boolean %t\n", *t) // t has type *bool
case *int:
    fmt.Printf("pointer to integer %d\n", *t) // t has type *int
}
```