I am trying to run this script, but it only returns the last part of the switch- the otherwise part, please help...

The script is here...

 % Initiating the integer variable, num
 num=-10:10;
 
 % Prompting user to enter integer
 num=input('Enter any integer value: ');
 
 % Error check
 if num<-10 || num>10
     disp('OUT OF RANGE')
 end
 
 % switching the num
 switch num
     case num<-2 || num>4;
         f1(num)% calculates the square of num
     case num>=0 && num<=2;
         f2(num)% calculates the cube of num
     case num==-2 || num==-1;
         f3(num)% calculates the 4th power of num
     otherwise
         f4(num)% calculates the 5th power of num (esp. when num==4)  
 end

The output, for instance, looks like this...

 >> switchnum
Enter any integer value: 5

ans =

        3125
 

which executes f4 instead of f1....why???

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

Your switch condition will not work as you expect. If you want to use logical comparisons for the case values, then you will need to provide the appropriate true or false value for the switch condition, e.g.:

switch true % <- you need this!
    case num<-2 || num>4
    ...
    case num>=0 && num<=2
    ...
end

See other discussions on this topic:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/354263-how-can-i-incoporate-logics-of-and-or-in-switch-case-problem

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/12290-problem-using-switch-with-logical-operators-larger-than-do-this-or-less-than-do-this

Note that switch used in this way obfuscates the code, and is better written as a simple if statement:

if num<-2 || num>4
elseif num>=0 && num<=2
    ...
else
    ...
end