PHP match

PHP match expression tutorial shows how to do flow control in PHP with match. A match expression appeared first in PHP 8.

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Aug 29, 2025

PHP match

last modified February 16, 2025

PHP match expression tutorial shows how to do flow control in PHP with match.

A match expression is a powerful control flow construct, in which we compare values against multiple alternatives. It is similar to the switch expression.

A match expression returns a value. It must be terminated with a semicolon. A match arm compares values strictly (===). Match arms do not fall-through to later cases. The default keyword is used for all other options not included in the arms.

In if/else or switch statements, each individual condition is called a branch; in pattern matching, the term arm is used instead.

PHP match integer literals

In the first example, we match against integer literals.

main.php

<?php

$menu = <<<MENU Select option 1 - start 2 - slow down 3 - accelerate 4 - pause 5 - terminate MENU;

echo “$menu\n”;

$opt = intval(trim(fgets(STDIN)));

$res = match ($opt) {

1 =&gt; 'start',
2 =&gt; 'slow down',
3 =&gt; 'accelerate',
4 =&gt; 'pause',
5 =&gt; 'terminate',
default =&gt; 'unknown'

};

echo “your option: $res\n”;

We have a menu of options; each option is represented by an integer.

$opt = intval(trim(fgets(STDIN)));

We read a value from a command line.

$res = match ($opt) {

1 =&gt; 'start',
2 =&gt; 'slow down',
3 =&gt; 'accelerate',
4 =&gt; 'pause',
5 =&gt; 'terminate',
default =&gt; 'unknown'

};

The match expression matches the selected option against a list of values. Each arm is separated by comma. For all other options, we have the default keyword.

echo “your option: $res\n”;

We print the chosen option.

PHP match string literals

In the second example, we match against string literals.

main.php

<?php

$langs = [‘russian’, ‘slovak’, ‘german’, ‘swedish’, ‘hungarian’, ‘french’, ‘spanish’];

echo(“say hello\n”);

foreach ($langs as $lang) {

$res = match ($lang) {
    'russian' =&gt; 'привет',
    'hungarian' =&gt; 'szia',
    'french' =&gt; 'salut',
    'spanish' =&gt; 'hola',
    'slovak' =&gt; 'ahoj',
    'german' =&gt; 'hallo',
    'swedish' =&gt; 'Hallå'
};

echo "$res\n";

}

We have a list of languages. We go through the list and say hello for each language.

$ php main.php say hello привет ahoj hallo Hallå szia salut hola

PHP match multiple options

Multiple options in one arm are separated with a comma.

main.php

<?php

$grades = [‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’, ‘F’, ‘FX’];

foreach ($grades as $grade) {

$res = match ($grade) {
    'A' , 'B' , 'C' , 'D' , 'E' , 'F' =&gt; 'passed',
    'FX' =&gt; 'failed'
};

echo "$res\n";

}

We have a list of grades. For A throug F grades, we pass the example. For the FX grade, we fail the exam.

$ php main.php passed passed passed passed passed passed failed

PHP match conditional arms

In the next example, we have conditions in the match arms.

main.php

<?php

$r = rand(-5, 5);

$res = match (true) { $r < 0 => “${r}: negative value”, $r === 0 => “${r}: zero”, $r > 0 => “${r}: positive value” };

echo “$res\n”;

The example chooses a random integer. With match we determine, if the value is negative, zero, or positive.

$r < 0 => “${r}: negative value”,

This arm is executed if the $r is less than zero.

Source

PHP language reference

In this article we have presented the PHP match expression.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.

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