Better way to write if statement with a lot of ||

I wonder if there is a more elegant way to write an if statement with a lot of || in java. I've given different values to alphabet letters:

A,O,I,B,T,S,M,N -> 1 
C,D,F,G         -> 5 
W,Y,Z,H,Q       -> 10

So, I want to check a given letter and if is equal with one of the 2nd group for example to get 5. Right now I'm checking like this:

String value;
if (getLetter().equals("Α")|| getLetter().equals("O") ||
    getLetter().equals("I") || getLetter().equals("B") ||
    getLetter().equals("T") || getLetter().equals("S") ||
    getLetter().equals("N") || getLetter().equals("N"))
value = "1";

is there a better way to do it?

Jon Skeet
people
quotationmark

Three options:

  • Use a switch statement, assuming you're using Java 7 or 8:

    switch (getLetter()) {
    case "A":
    case "O":
    case "I":
    case "B":
    ...
        value = "1";
    ...
}

  • Use three Set<String> objects

  • (Best, IMO) Use a Map<String, String>

The last option would be something like:

// You'd presumably initialize this in one place...
Map<String, String> map = new HashMap();
map.put("A", "1");
map.put("O", "1");
map.put("I", "1");
...
map.put("C", "5");
map.put("D", "5");
...

String value = map.get(getLetter());

people

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