Match Case

301.9 Selection

Selection — Note 4 of 4

Match Case statements

What you need to know

Python 3.10 introduced match-case (structural pattern matching). It compares a value against multiple patterns, similar to a switch statement in other languages.

What to know

match value: starts the block
case pattern: checks if value matches
case _: is the default (wildcard) case
Cleaner than long elif chains for simple value matching
Available from Python 3.10 onwards

Code examples

Match Case

python

command = input("Enter command: ")
match command:
    case "start":
        print("Starting...")
    case "stop":
        print("Stopping...")
    case _:
        print("Unknown command")

← Previous noteNested IF301.9 Selection Next topic →FOR loops301.10 Iteration

Back to Selection

Specification notes for programming are in Paper 2.

Match Case

301.9 Selection

Practise exam questions

Selection — Note 4 of 4

Match Case statements

What you need to know

Python 3.10 introduced match-case (structural pattern matching). It compares a value against multiple patterns, similar to a switch statement in other languages.

What to know

match value: starts the block
case pattern: checks if value matches
case _: is the default (wildcard) case
Cleaner than long elif chains for simple value matching
Available from Python 3.10 onwards

Code examples

Match Case

python

command = input("Enter command: ")
match command:
    case "start":
        print("Starting...")
    case "stop":
        print("Stopping...")
    case _:
        print("Unknown command")

← Previous noteNested IF301.9 Selection Next topic →FOR loops301.10 Iteration

Back to Selection

Specification notes for programming are in Paper 2.