Python Language Tutorial => Using a context manager

Example

Another way, which is very readable and elegant, but far less efficient than a if/else structure, is to build a class such as follows, that will read and store the value to compare with, expose itself within the context as a callable that will return true if it matches the stored value:

class Switch:
    def __init__(self, value): 
        self._val = value
    def __enter__(self):
        return self
    def __exit__(self, type, value, traceback):
        return False # Allows traceback to occur
    def __call__(self, cond, *mconds): 
        return self._val in (cond,)+mconds

then defining the cases is almost a match to the real switch/case construct (exposed within a function below, to make it easier to show off):

def run_switch(value):
    with Switch(value) as case:
        if case(1):
            return 'one'
        if case(2):
            return 'two'
        if case(3):
            return 'the answer to the question about life, the universe and everything'
        # default
        raise Exception('Not a case!')

So the execution would be:

>>> run_switch(1)
one
>>> run_switch(2)
two
>>> run_switch(3)
…
Exception: Not a case!
>>> run_switch(42)
the answer to the question about life, the universe and everything

Nota Bene:

This solution is being offered as the switch module available on pypi.

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