What is tuple pattern matching in C# 8.0?

In C# 8.0, tuple pattern matching is used to determine whether or not the contents and order of a tuple are as required.

Pattern matching is implemented by comparing tuples and user-defined templates of tuples with the help of switch expressions.

Although pattern matching was made available in C# 7.0, tuple pattern matching is only available in C# 8.0 and above.

Example

The following program declares a function named sports_i_like, which takes in one tuple as its parameter. It compares this tuple with tuple templates defined as switch expression cases, and it returns the corresponding string if a case label is matched. If no case is matched, the default case is executed.

Using the Controle.WriteLine function, we output the return value of the function.

using System;
public class Program {
  
    // Main function
    public static void Main()
    {
        // define function containng a switch expression
		static string sports_i_like(string sport1, string sport2, string sport3)
        => (sport1, sport2, sport3) switch
        {
            //matches if Cricket, Football, and Swimming given as input
            ("Cricket", "Football", "Swimming") => "I like Cricket, Football, and Swimming.",
            //matches if Cricket, Football, and Baseball given as input
            ("Cricket", "Football", "Baseball") => "I like Cricket, Football, and Baseball.",
            //matches if Hockey, Football, and Swimming given as input
            ("Hockey", "Football", "Swimming") => "I like Hockey, Football, and Swimming.",
		    //matches if Table Tennis, Football, and Swimming given as input
            ("Table Tennis", "Football", "Swimming") => "I like Table Tennis, Football and Swimming.",
            //Default case
            (_, _, _) => "Invalid input!"
        };
		Console.WriteLine(sports_i_like("Cricket", "Football", "Swimming"));
		Console.WriteLine(sports_i_like("Cricket", "Football", "Racing"));
						  
	}
		
}

The input of the program is as follows, as the first call matches the first case label and the second call results in the default case:

I like Cricket, Football, and Swimming.
Invalid input.

Note that Racing is not part of any case label.

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