Switch statement: must default be the last case

cswitch statement

Consider the following switch statement:

switch( value )
{
  case 1:
    return 1;
  default:
    value++;
    // fall-through
  case 2:
    return value * 2;
}

This code compiles, but is it valid (= defined behavior) for C90/C99? I have never seen code where the default case is not the last case.

EDIT:
As Jon Cage and KillianDS write: this is really ugly and confusing code and I am well aware of it. I am just interested in the general syntax (is it defined?) and the expected output.

Best Answer

The case statements and the default statement can occur in any order in the switch statement. The default clause is an optional clause that is matched if none of the constants in the case statements can be matched.

Good Example :-

switch(5) {
  case 1:
    echo "1";
    break;
  case 2:
  default:
    echo "2, default";
    break;
  case 3;
    echo "3";
    break;
}


Outputs '2,default'

very useful if you want your cases to be presented in a logical order in the code (as in, not saying case 1, case 3, case 2/default) and your cases are very long so you do not want to repeat the entire case code at the bottom for the default

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