What are the purposes of the switch statement in C language?

The switch statement in C language is primarily used to execute different code blocks based on different conditions. Its main purpose includes:

1. Multiple condition branches: the switch statement can execute different code blocks based on different condition values. This can avoid using multiple nested if-else statements for handling multiple condition branches, making the code more concise and readable.
2. Switch statement is used to implement selection structure when different actions need to be executed based on user input or other conditions. For example, different menu operations can be executed based on the option entered by the user.
3. Enumerated types handling: When defining variables using enumerated types, one can utilize a switch statement to execute different operations based on the various enumerated values. This helps avoid the need for multiple if statements to handle different enumerated values.
4. Switch statements are often more efficient compared to multiple if-else statements due to their use of jump tables to implement conditional branching instead of comparing conditions one by one.

It is important to note that the condition expression in a switch statement must be integral or character type, and the case labels must be constant expressions.