Easy way to use variables of enum types as string in C?

Question

Here\'s what I am trying to do:

typedef enum { ONE, TWO, THREE } Numbers;

I am trying to write a function that would do a switch case sim

Answer 1

C or C++ does not provide this functionality, although I've needed it often.

The following code works, although it's best suited for non-sparse enums.

typedef enum { ONE, TWO, THREE } Numbers;
char *strNumbers[] = {"one","two","three"};
printf ("Value for TWO is %s\n",strNumbers[TWO]);

By non-sparse, I mean not of the form

typedef enum { ONE, FOUR_THOUSAND = 4000 } Numbers;

since that has huge gaps in it.

The advantage of this method is that it put the definitions of the enums and strings near each other; having a switch statement in a function spearates them. This means you're less likely to change one without the other.