Thread: Nested Switch Statement Fall Through

Hello everyone, I'm attempting to create a simple choose your own adventure game using nested switch statements. The problem is that whenever I reach "the end" (death, etc.) the switch statements fall through, despite having "break;". This is an extremely simplified version of my code, just to show the issue. Press 1. to start the game, then 2. This will cause it to fall through to the alternate menu options.

import java.util.Scanner;
 
class ProblemExample {
 
public static void main(String[] args) {
 
Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in);
 
System.out.println("Welcome to The Game,");
System.out.println("by **********");
System.out.println("1.	Begin game");
System.out.println("2.	Help");
System.out.println("3.	Quit");
 
int inputStartMenu = scan.nextInt();
 
	switch (inputStartMenu) {case 1:  System.out.println("case 1 of switch(inputstartmenu)");
 
					int inputA = scan.nextInt();
 
						switch (inputA) {case 1: System.out.println("case 1 of switch(inputA)"); break;
								case 2: System.out.println("case 2 of switch(inputA)"); break;}[B][U] break;[/U][/B]
 
				case 2:	System.out.println("Instructions/Summary"); break;
 
				case 3: System.out.println("Goodbye"); break;}
 
}
}

Originally Posted by Nate

... fall through ...

Maybe the path that the program takes would be more evident if you formatted your code to show the nested switch statements more clearly. Throw in some print statements that make the program tell you where it is at strategic points. Maybe even a couple of comments.

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
 
        Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in);
 
        System.out.println("Welcome to The Quarter Adventure,");
        System.out.println("by **********");
        System.out.println("1.  Begin game");
        System.out.println("2.  Help");
        System.out.println("3.  Quit");
        int inputStartMenu = scan.nextInt();
 
        System.out.println("inputStartMenu = " + inputStartMenu);
 
        switch (inputStartMenu)
        {
            case 1:
                System.out.print("Case 1 of switch(inputStartMenu): Enter an integer (1 or 2): ");
                int inputA = scan.nextInt();
 
                System.out.println("inputA = " + inputA);
 
                switch (inputA)
                {
                    case 1:
                        System.out.println("F");
                        break; // Break out of switch(inputA)
                    case 2:
                        System.out.println("G");
                        break; // Break out of switch(inputA)
                } // End of switch(InputA) in case1 of switch(inputStartMenu)
 
            case 2:
                System.out.println("Case 2 of switch(inputStartMenu): Instructions abbreviated for debug purposes");
                break; // Break out of switch(inpuStartMenu)
 
            case 3:
                System.out.println("Case 3 of switch(inputStartMenu): Goodbye");
                break; // Break out of switch(inpuStartMenu)
        } // End of switch(inputStartMenu)
    } // End of main()

Cheers!


Z

For nested switch statements a "break" from the innermost statement only breaks out of that one. Same as for breaking out of any inner block of nested loops or nested combinations of loops and switches: Breaks out of that one, outer ones continue from that point.

That is what I hoped would be illustrated by the print statements that I suggested.

Originally Posted by Nate

...coincidence...

Hmmm...let's see:

1. Didn't work.
2. Made change according to rules of Java.
3. Worked.

Could it be a coincidence? Really?


Cheers!

Z