enum

The enum keyword is used to specify an enumeration type. An enumeration type is a type whose values are taken from a specified, fixed list of constant values.

Example

Here’s an example defining an enumeration type called weather, which has values HOT, COMFY, and COLD:

enum weather {HOT, COMFY, COLD};

Once you’ve defined this type, you can create variables of type weather, in the same way you would with an int:

// create a weather variable named theWeather, with value COMFY:
weather theWeather = COMFY;

Enumeration types are useful within switch statements. If you know that an argument is of an enumeration type, you can make case statements for all of that type’s possible values, so you know you won’t miss anything:

void describeWeather(weather currentWeather) {
    switch(currentWeather) {
    case HOT:
        SerialUSB.println("it's hot out");
        break;
    case COMFY:
        SerialUSB.println("it's nice today");
        break;
    case COLD:
        SerialUSB.println("it's freezing!");
        break;
    }
}

Such a switch statement would need no default, since we know that currentWeather must be either HOT, COMFY, or COLD.

See Also

• switch/case