I am finding an unexpected token in the following code.

        switch ( hobby ) {
            case =" painting ":
                message = "Van Gogh was good at that.";
                    break;
            case =" drawing ":
                message = "Hey! Van Gogh did that too.";
                    break;
            case =" playing guitar ":
                message = "Bob Dylan played guitar.";
                    break;
            case =" sleeping in ":
                message = "My favorite hobby in the winter.";
                    break;

            default
        }

Does anyone see what I am missing?

I am finding an unexpected token in the following code.

        switch ( hobby ) {
            case =" painting ":
                message = "Van Gogh was good at that.";
                    break;
            case =" drawing ":
                message = "Hey! Van Gogh did that too.";
                    break;
            case =" playing guitar ":
                message = "Bob Dylan played guitar.";
                    break;
            case =" sleeping in ":
                message = "My favorite hobby in the winter.";
                    break;

            default
        }

Does anyone see what I am missing?

• javascript
• switch-statement

• In the code before the switch I have var hobby = prompt("What do you like to do? Painting, drawing, playing guitar, or sleeping in."); – FileasFogg Commented Jan 22, 2012 at 21:54
• The ending default line is actually not in the my current code. – FileasFogg Commented Jan 22, 2012 at 21:55
• It's not what you're missing, it's what you're adding ;) In general, you'll want to have a default handler, unless it truly doesn't matter--even then, having an empty one with a ment to that effect can be helpful for future code readers. – Dave Newton Commented Jan 22, 2012 at 22:00
• Just a note, I often get this error when I forget to add a : after one of the keywords – jlewkovich Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 16:22

2 Answers 2

Your syntax is off. Remove the = after cases. Also, you'll need to put a : after default.

See here for more about switch statements.

You can take advantage of function semantics to avoid having to break out of each case:

var message = (function(){
  switch (hobby) {
    case 'painting':        return 'Van Gogh was good at that.'
    case 'drawing':         return 'Hey! Van Gogh did that too.'
    case 'playing guitar':  return 'Bob Dylan played guitar.'
    case 'sleeping in':     return 'My favorite hobby in the winter.'
  }
}())

The best way to express this logic, though, is probably something like the following:

var messages = {
  'painting':       'Van Gogh was good at that.',
  'drawing':        'Hey! Van Gogh did that too.',
  'playing guitar': 'Bob Dylan played guitar.',
  'sleeping in':    'My favorite hobby in the winter.'
}
var message = messages[hobby]