PHP match Expression

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The PHP match expression is used for the identity check of a value. It is similar to the switch statement i.e. it matches the expression with its alternative values. The match expressions are available in PHP 8.0.0.

The match expression compares the value using a strict comparison operator (===) whereas the switch statement uses a loose comparison operator (==).

Syntax:

return_value = match(expr) {
    key1 => val1,
    key2 => val2,
    ...
}

Note: The match expression must be ended with semicolons.

Example 1: The following code demonstrates the match expression in PHP.

PHP

<?php 
  
  $sub = 'PHP'; 
  
  $val = match ($sub) { 
      'HTML' => 'HTML Course', 
      'CSS' => 'CSS Course', 
      'PHP' => 'PHP Course', 
      'JavaScript' => 'JS Course', 
      'WebDev' => 'Complete Web Development'
  }; 
  
  var_dump($val); 
?>

Output:

string(10) "PHP Course"

Example 2: The following code is another example of a PHP match expression.

PHP

<?php 
  
  $marks = 78; 
  
  $res = match (true) { 
      $marks < 33 => 'Fail', 
      $marks < 45 => 'Third Division', 
      $marks < 60 => 'Second Division', 
      $marks < 75 => 'First Division', 
      $marks <= 100 => 'Distinction'
  }; 
  
  var_dump($res); 
?>