C# 8 switch expression with multiple cases with same result

Question

How can a switch expression be written to support multiple cases returning the same result?

With C# prior to version 8, a switch may be written like so:

Answer 1

Sadly, this appears to be a shortcoming in the switch-expression syntax, relative to the switch-statement syntax. As other posters have suggested, the rather clumsy var syntax is your only real option.

So you might have been hoping you could write:

switchValue switch {
    Type1 t1:
    Type2 t2:
    Type3 t3 => ResultA, // where the ResultX variables are placeholders for expressions.
    Type4 t4 => ResultB,
    Type5 t5 => ResultC
};

Instead you will need to write the rather awkward code below, with typename sprayed about:

switchValue switch {
    var x when x is Type1 || x is Type2 || x is Type 3 => ResultA,
    Type4 t4 => ResultB,
    Type5 t5 => ResultC
};

In such a simple example, you can probably live with this awkwardness. But more complicated example are much less liveable with. In fact my examples are actually a simplification of an example drawn from our own code base, where I was hoping to convert a switch-statement, with roughly six outcomes but over a dozen type-cases, into a switch-expression. And the result was clearly less readable than the switch-statement.

My view is that if the switch-expression needs shared outcomes and is more than a few lines long, then you are better off sticking to a switch-statement. Boo! It's more verbose but probably a kindness to your teammates.

ResultType tmp;
switch (switchValue) {
    case Type1 t1:
    case Type2 t2:
    case Type3 t3:
        tmp = ResultA;
        break;
    case Type4 t4:
        tmp = ResultB;
        break;
    case Type5 t5:
        tmp = ResultC;
        break;
};
return tmp;