► |  | The Racket Reference

1 | Language Model
2 | Syntactic Forms
3 | Datatypes
4 | Structures
5 | Classes and Objects
6 | Units
7 | Contracts
8 | Pattern Matching
9 | Control Flow
10 | Concurrency and Parallelism
11 | Macros
12 | Input and Output
13 | Reflection and Security
14 | Operating System
15 | Memory Management
16 | Unsafe Operations
17 | Running Racket
| Bibliography
| Index

▼ | 2 | Syntactic Forms

2.1 | Modules: module, module*, ...
2.2 | Importing and Exporting: require and provide
2.3 | Literals: quote and #%datum
2.4 | Expression Wrapper: #%expression
2.5 | Variable References and #%top
2.6 | Locations: #%variable-reference
2.7 | Procedure Applications and #%app
2.8 | Procedure Expressions: lambda and case-lambda
2.9 | Local Binding: let, let*, letrec, ...
2.10 | Local Definitions: local
2.11 | Constructing Graphs: shared
2.12 | Conditionals: if, cond, and, and or
2.13 | Dispatch: case
2.14 | Definitions: define, define-syntax, ...
2.15 | Sequencing: begin, begin0, and begin-for-syntax
2.16 | Guarded Evaluation: when and unless
2.17 | Assignment: set! and set!-values
2.18 | Iterations and Comprehensions: for, for/ list, ...
2.19 | Continuation Marks: with-continuation-mark
2.20 | Quasiquoting: quasiquote, unquote, and unquote-splicing
2.21 | Syntax Quoting: quote-syntax
2.22 | Interaction Wrapper: #%top-interaction
2.23 | Blocks: block
2.24 | Internal-Definition Limiting: #%stratified-body
2.25 | Performance Hints: begin-encourage-inline
2.26 | Importing Modules Lazily: lazy-require

On this page:

case

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#### 2.13`` Dispatch: case

> > syntax

> > (case val-expr case-clause ...)

> case-clause |  | = |  | [(datum ...) then-body ...+]
> |  | | |  | [else then-body ...+]

Evaluates val-expr and uses the result to select a case-clause. The selected clause is the first one with a datum whose quoted form is equal? to the result of val-expr. If no such datum is present, the else case-clause is selected; if no else case-clause is present, either, then the result of the case form is #<void>.

> > > The case form of racket differs from that of R6RS: Scheme or R5RS: Legacy Scheme by being based equal? instead of eqv? (in addition to allowing internal definitions).

For the selected case-clause, the results of the last then-body, which is in tail position with respect to the case form, are the results for the whole case form.

A case-clause that starts with else must be the last case-clause.

The case form can dispatch to a matching case-clause in O(log N) time for N datums.

Examples:

> > (case (+ 7 5)
> [(1 2 3) 'small]
> [(10 11 12) 'big])

> 'big

> > (case (- 7 5)
> [(1 2 3) 'small]
> [(10 11 12) 'big])

> 'small

> > (case (string-append "do" "g")
> [("cat" "dog" "mouse") "animal"]
> [else "mineral or vegetable"])

> "animal"

> > (case (list 'y 'x)
> [((a b) (x y)) 'forwards]
> [((b a) (y x)) 'backwards])

> 'backwards

> > (case 'x
> [(x) "ex"]
> [('x) "quoted ex"])

> "ex"

> > (case (list 'quote 'x)
> [(x) "ex"]
> [('x) "quoted ex"])

> "quoted ex"

> (define (classify c)
> (case (char-general-category c)
> [(ll lu lt ln lo) "letter"]
> [(nd nl no) "number"]
> [else "other"]))

> > (classify #\A)
> "letter"
> > (classify #\1)
> "number"
> > (classify #\!)
> "other"

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