Too long If...elif...else

[Telplate]

I need to print a string depending on a value. The code is like this:

Code

choice = int(raw_input('Type a number between 0 and 9: '))
 
if choice == 0:
   print 'number 0'
elif choice == 1:
   print 'number 1'
elif choice == 2:
   print 'number 2'
elif choice == 3:
   print 'number 3'
elif choice == 3:
   print 'number 4'
elif choice == 4:
   print 'number 5'
elif choice == 5:
   print 'number 6'
elif choice == 6:
   print 'number 7'
elif choice == 7:
   print 'number 8'
elif choice == 9:
   print 'number 9'
else:
   print 'The number must be between 0 and 9'

The problem is that it is too long. I know other languages have statements like case and switch. Isn't there something like that in Python?

[Alter Lobo]

In Python you can do better than using case or switch. Use a dictionary:

Code

choice = int(raw_input('Type a number between 0 and 9: '))
 
choices = {1: 'number 1',
           2: 'number 2',
           3: 'number 3',
           4: 'number 4',
           5: 'number 5',
           6: 'number 6',
           7: 'number 7',
           8: 'number 8',
           9: 'number 9'}
 
print choices.get(choice, 'The number must be between 0 and 9')

The get method of the dictionary returns the element which index is given in the first parameter. If it is not found it returns the second parameter.

A dictionary is shorter and can be created and modified in runtime while case and switch statements are hard coded.