I can't say I fully understand the match/case statement yet, but I know a part of it involves more than just simple pattern matching. I know that the expression in the match statement, for example, actually runs and creates a result, such as an object if it's a call to a class.

So I'm wondering, if I don't want to do all that and just want to use it as a cleaner version of if/else, is this considered Pythonic, or is it overkill?

For example:

if some_value == True and some_other == 1:
    do something
elif some_value == False and some_other == 1:
    do something else
etc etc etc

or:

match (some_value, some_other):
    case (True, 1):
        do something
    case (False, 1):
        do something else
    etc etc etc

First off, I *think* I'm getting the syntax correct! Second, I'm not actually creating any values with the expressions, so it feels like a glorified if/else construct, just cleaner looking.

Is this a valid use of match/case?

Thanks!

I am curious on the Python community’s opinions on the match-case structure. I know that it has been around for a couple of years now, but some people still consider it relatively new.

I personally really like it. It is much cleaner and concise compared if-elif-else chains, and I appreciate the pattern-matching.

match-case example:

# note that this is just an example, it would be more fit in a case where there is more complex logic with side-effects

from random import randint

value = randint(0, 2)

match value:
    case 0:
        print("Foo")
    case 1:
        print("Bar")
    case 2:
        print("Baz")

if parameter == a:
    do a's stuff
if parameter == b:
    do b's stuff
if parameter == c:
    do c's stuff

vs.

match parameter:
    case a:
        do a's stuff
    case b:
        do b's stuff
    case c:
        do c's stuff.

If anything, it just seems like match is just one line longer. I suppose you don't have to write "parameter ==" every time. But that doesn't seem very important.