There are several statements that we can use in C++ programming that help in choosing a set of instructions for using the code depending upon an expression truth value.
What are Selection Statements in C++?
As mentioned above there are several statements that we can use to choose a set of pre-defined instructions within a program in any section of the program as per the need. These are called selection statements in C++
In C++ Program there are two types of Selection statements
1. If
2. Switch
The If Statement of C++
To understand "if statement" let's look at an example.
Example - If you have 10 rupees then you can buy the chocolate.
Here, there is a condition in buying chocolate, if you have 10 rupees then only you can buy it.
This shows that the If is a condition which can be true or false, If it is false it won't be executed, in this example, if you don't have 10 rupees i.e. the condition is false you cant buy the chocolate.
So, If statement checks for a particular condition which can either be true or false,m and if found true a set of statements will be executed.
Let's look at some code to illustrate the if statement
if (grade == 'A')
cout<<"You Did Well in the Exam" ;
Here the if checks weather the input is A or not, if the Entered value is A then it will display You Did Well in the Exam.
The Switch Statement of C++
As we saw in if statement, it checks for the input and when the value is true it executes a set of statements and gives an output.
In the Switch statement, it goes a bit beyond it, Here there are multiple branch selections which test the value of an expression and when it finds it true it executes the statement with that constant. These multiple branches are called case statements
As per the ANSI standards, a switch can have up to 257 case statements.
Here is a program that shows the use of switch statements in C++