Case statement with fall through
4.0
Since bash 4.0, a new operator ;& was introduced which provides fall through mechanism.
#!/bin/bash
var=1
case $var in
1)
echo "Antartica"
;&
2)
echo "Brazil"
;&
3)
echo "Cat"
;&
esac
Outputs:
Antartica
Brazil
Cat
Fall through only if subsequent pattern(s) match
4.0
Since Bash 4.0, another operator ;;& was introduced which also provides fall through only if the patterns in subsequent case statement(s), if any, match.
#!/bin/bash
var=abc
case $var in
a*)
echo "Antartica"
;;&
xyz)
echo "Brazil"
;;&
*b*)
echo "Cat"
;;&
esac
Outputs:
Antartica
Cat
In the below example, the abc matches both first and third case but not the second case. So, second case is not executed.
Simple case statement
In its simplest form supported by all versions of bash, case statement executes the case that matches the pattern. ;; operator breaks after the first match, if any.
#!/bin/bash
var=1
case $var in
1)
echo "Antartica"
;;
2)
echo "Brazil"
;;
3)
echo "Cat"
;;
esac
Outputs:
Antartica