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So let's go back into the Powershell console and we'll review the

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switch statement format, and then we'll look at how we implement the

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switch statement within the PowerShell.

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Okay, so we just talked about switch statements,

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so it's important to understand and see kind of firsthand what this looks like.

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So what we'll do is we'll create a variable here called

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number and we'll assign it a value of 3. Just to make sure

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that works, if we do number, we should get the value of 3.

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Okay, now we're going to define our switch statement,

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which starts with a Switch, and then, of course,

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in parentheses there, it will be the evaluation.

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Then, of course,

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we have our script block which kind of then contains various

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other conditions that we want to access.

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So to start this,

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we're going to say switch, and what we want to do is we want to evaluate the

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variable that we created so we start with Switch number,

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and then I'm going to open my code block here.

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What I'm then going to do is define the values that I

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want to check that number against.

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So let's start with 5, and then for each condition, we also get a

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script block that we can do something with.

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So I'm going to say Write‑Host and 5.

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Then I'm going to go to the next 1, let's say we do 10 Write‑Host 10

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and then we'll do another one so 20 Write‑Host 20.

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Okay.

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And then what we can do is I'm just going to close that out and

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then we'll press Enter here, and notice I get nothing because

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number is equal to three so it doesn't meet five, it doesn't

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match 10, it doesn't match 20.

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So how do we get it to drop out into something else?

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So let's just clear this out and what we'll do is loop back

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through, so I'm going to say switch 5,

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10, 20, and this time I'm going to use a specially

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reserved word here called Default and I'm going to say

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Default instead and close that out.

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So now we have that.

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I'm going to do my last ending, and when I press Enter now,

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it should come back and say default because when it did the switch comparisons,

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it looked at five, didn't match, looked at 10,

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didn't match, looked at 20, and then just said,

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you know what, I'm going to drop it out into the default option,

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and that's what I'm going to write.

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So a switch statement is really,

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really straightforward, just a list of check this, check that, check this.

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Now let's make this a bit more complicated here,

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and what we'll do is we'll update or create a number1 value and we'll

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call it 5, and then what we'll do is create a number2 and we'll make

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that an 11, so 2 different numbers. Now what we want to do here is we

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want our switch statement to take both of those numbers as an option

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for validation.

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So I'm going to say number2, so the same thing we did before, but this time I

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want it to check number1 and number2, so for number 5 and number 11 against

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the options or the conditions that we assign.

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So 5, I'm going to say Write‑Host 5, then I'll say

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10, do the same thing as before,

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Write‑Host and then do 10, and then I'll do 20, and then we will also

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include the default option here as well just so we have a default path that

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we can drop it out to in the event that it doesn't match any of the numbers

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that we're kind of passing into it.

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Okay, so our last one here,

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I'm going to press, oops, I didn't want to press the square, and

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you'll notice I just typed the square bracket,

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which means I now have to kind of type this back

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again, but I can do this quickly, 5, 10,

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20, Default, squirrely bracket, and Enter.

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Now notice it returns me two values.

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Interestingly,

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how that works because it takes the first number,

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number1, and drops through each line, 5,

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10,

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20, Default and it returns number 5 because the first number matches and

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then the second number goes in and comes back as a default.

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Now, of course,

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what would that look like if we created a number 3 and set that to 20?

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So let's go back and quickly create my switch statement 5,

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10, 20, Default, close that out and Enter, and notice what happened?

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It just took the two numbers.

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Now,

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if we tweaked our statement a little bit and added that third

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one, I'll go back up to here, $number3,

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and then obviously added the rest of our command, so let's do 5,

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10, 20, Default and then close out.

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Now we end up with three outputs so a switch statement can

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take multiple inputs for validation and for checking. So

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it's really simple to use them.

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I like using switch statements, sometimes it's easier than

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writing lots of if and else statements,

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and it just means that I have predetermined values that I want to check

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against and it just makes life a little bit easier.

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It really only functions well.

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If you're outputting numbers or you're doing calculations and have

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numbers come back out. You can also do string values, but there

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are other ways of doing that instead, so highly recommend using a switch statement.