How Can I Achieve Fallthrough Behavior in C#'s Switch Statements?

Understanding Switch Statement Fallthrough in C#

In C#, switch statements allow program flow to be directed based on a given variable's value. However, traditional if/else constructs lack the ability to "fall through" different cases like switch statements do.

Consider the following example, which attempts to convert a number to its word representation:

static string NumberToWords(int number)
{
    string[] numbers = new string[] 
        { "", "one", "two", "three", "four", "five", 
          "six", "seven", "eight", "nine" };
    string[] tens = new string[] 
        { "", "", "twenty", "thirty", "forty", "fifty", 
          "sixty", "seventy", "eighty", "ninety" };
    string[] teens = new string[]
        { "ten", "eleven", "twelve", "thirteen", "fourteen", "fifteen",
          "sixteen", "seventeen", "eighteen", "nineteen" };

    string ans = "";
    switch (number.ToString().Length)
    {
        case 3:
            ans += string.Format("{0} hundred and ", numbers[number / 100]);
        case 2:
            int t = (number / 10) % 10;
            if (t == 1)
            {
                ans += teens[number % 10];
                break;
            }
            else if (t > 1)
                ans += string.Format("{0}-", tens[t]);
        case 1:
            int o = number % 10;
            ans += numbers[o];

            break;
        default:
            throw new ArgumentException("number");
    }
    return ans;
}

When this code is compiled, it fails with errors indicating that control cannot fall through from one case to another. This issue stems from the fact that in C#, a switch statement requires explicit breaks after each case to ensure that the flow of execution is controlled.

Achieving Fallthrough

To achieve fallthrough in a switch statement, there are three options:

1. Empty Cases: A case can be left empty, effectively allowing fallthrough to the next case without any code execution.
2. Goto case: The goto case syntax can be used to explicitly transfer control to a specific case.
3. Goto default: The goto default syntax transfers control to the default case, even if the current case is not equal to default.

Example with Fallthrough

The following modified version of the NumberToWords function utilizes the goto case syntax to achieve fallthrough:

static string NumberToWords(int number)
{
    string[] numbers = new string[] 
        { "", "one", "two", "three", "four", "five", 
          "six", "seven", "eight", "nine" };
    string[] tens = new string[] 
        { "", "", "twenty", "thirty", "forty", "fifty", 
          "sixty", "seventy", "eighty", "ninety" };
    string[] teens = new string[]
        { "ten", "eleven", "twelve", "thirteen", "fourteen", "fifteen",
          "sixteen", "seventeen", "eighteen", "nineteen" };

    string ans = "";
    switch (number.ToString().Length)
    {
        case 3:
            ans += string.Format("{0} hundred and ", numbers[number / 100]);
            goto case 2;
        case 2:
            int t = (number / 10) % 10;
            if (t == 1)
            {
                ans += teens[number % 10];
                break;
            }
            else if (t > 1)
                ans += string.Format("{0}-", tens[t]);
            goto case 1;
        case 1:
            int o = number % 10;
            ans += numbers[o];

            break;
        default:
            throw new ArgumentException("number");
    }
    return ans;
}

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