PHP if else statements

Question

We have variable $country, it can give ~50 different values.

And variable $id.

What we should do is to give a value for $id corresponding to $country value, like:

if ($country = 'USA') { $id = 'usa_type'; }
else if ($country = 'France') { $id = 'france_type'; }
else if ($country = 'German') { $id = 'german_type'; }
else if ($country = 'Spain') { $id = 'spain_type'; }
...
...
...
else if ($country = 'Urugway') { $id = 'urugway_type'; }
else { $id = 'undefined'; }

else if statement repeats everytime, and other data is typical.

Is there a way to make this code shorter?

Like:

[france]:'france_type;
[england]:'england_type;
...
[else]:'undefined'

Thanks.

Why is this important? Sometimes having longer code is worth the trade off if the shorter code is harder to understand and is so complex there is the potential for bugs to creep in. — James
– James, Commented Aug 1, 2010 at 9:03

Mike · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-01 08:19:14Z

6

You could just create $id from $country:

$id = strtolower($country) . '_type';

If you first need to determine the validity of $country, put all your countries in an array, then use in_array to determine if $country is valid:

$countries = array('USA', 'France', 'Germany', 'Spain', 'Uruguay');
if (in_array($country, $countries)) {
    $id = strtolower($country) . '_type';
}

answered Aug 1, 2010 at 8:19

Mike

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Comments

a.aman · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-01 08:18:30Z

4

Use switch control structure . It will make your code shorter.

http://php.net/manual/en/control-structures.switch.php

answered Aug 1, 2010 at 8:18

a.aman

1 Comment

James Over a year ago

Switch is shorter? With all those break statements?

sTodorov · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-01 08:18:38Z

1

looking at your example you could do something like

$id = strtolower($country) + '_type';

answered Aug 1, 2010 at 8:18

sTodorov

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Comments

Naveed · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-01 08:27:24Z

1

Place all countries and codes in array like this:

$countries = array( "0" => array("country_name" => "usa", 
                                 "country_type" => "001" ) ,

                    "1" => array("country_name" => "uae", 
                                 "country_type" => "002" ),

                    -----------------------------
                    -----------------------------

                  );

Then use loop to compare country name and then get country id.

$country = "usa";

for( $i = 0; $i < count($countries); $i++ ) {
   if( $country == $countries[$i]["country_name"] ){
      $id = $countries[$i]["country_type"];
      break;
   }
}

echo $id;

edited Aug 1, 2010 at 8:27

answered Aug 1, 2010 at 8:20

Naveed

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Comments

Ties · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-01 08:28:43Z

1

or you could create an array

$country_to_id = array(
  "USA" => "usa_type",
  "Spain" => "spain_type_or_whatever",
  ....
);
$country_id = (array_key_exists($country,$country_to_id)) ? $country_to_id[$country] : 'undefined';

answered Aug 1, 2010 at 8:28

Ties

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