---

id: 68

slug: "null-in-switch"

title: "Null case in switch"

category: "errors"

difficulty: "beginner"

jdkVersion: "21"

oldLabel: "Java 8"

modernLabel: "Java 21+"

oldApproach: "Guard Before Switch"

modernApproach: "case null"

oldCode: |-

// Must check before switch

if (status == null) {

return "unknown";

}

return switch (status) {

case ACTIVE -> "active";

case PAUSED -> "paused";

default -> "other";

};

modernCode: |-

return switch (status) {

case null -> "unknown";

case ACTIVE -> "active";

case PAUSED -> "paused";

default -> "other";

};

summary: "Handle null directly as a switch case — no separate guard needed."

explanation: "Pattern matching switch can match null as a case label. This eliminates\

\ the need for a null check before the switch and makes null handling explicit and\

\ visible."

whyModernWins:

- icon: "🎯"

title: "Explicit"

desc: "null handling is visible right in the switch."

- icon: "🛡️"

title: "No NPE"

desc: "Switch on a null value won't throw NullPointerException."

- icon: "📐"

title: "All-in-one"

desc: "All cases including null in a single switch expression."

support:

state: "available"

description: "Widely available since JDK 21 LTS (Sept 2023)"

prev: "errors/multi-catch"

next: "errors/record-based-errors"

related:

- "errors/helpful-npe"

- "errors/record-based-errors"

- "errors/multi-catch"

docs:

- title: "Pattern Matching for switch (JEP 441)"

href: "https://openjdk.org/jeps/441"