---
syntax: markdown
tags: [tldr, common]
source: https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr.git
---
# case

> Bash builtin construct for creating multi-choice conditional statements.
> More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#index-case>.

- Match a variable against string literals to decide which command to run:

`case {{$tocount}} in {{words}}) {{wc -w README}}; ;; {{lines}}) {{wc -l README}}; ;; esac`

- Combine patterns with |, use * as a fallback pattern:

`case {{$tocount}} in {{[wW]|words}}) {{wc -w README}}; ;; {{[lL]|lines}}) {{wc -l README}}; ;; *) {{echo "what?"}}; ;; esac`
