Case Statement
Sequential Statement ---- used in ----> Process
Function
Procedure

Syntax

case expression is
   when choice =>
     sequential statements	
   when choice =>
      sequential statements
end case;













See LRM section 8.7




Rules and Examples












All possible choices must be included, unless the others clause is used as the last choice:

case SEL is
  when "01" =>   Z <= A;
  when "10" =>   Z <= B;
  when others => Z <= 'X';
end case;
















A range or a selection may be specified as a choice:

case INT_A is
  when 0      =>  Z <= A;
  when 1 to 3 =>  Z <= B;
  when 4|6|8  =>  Z <= C;
  when others =>  Z <= 'X';
end case;
















Choices may not overlap

case INT_A is
  when 0      =>  Z <= A;
  when 1 to 3 =>  Z <= B;
  when 2|6|8  =>  Z <= C;   -- illegal
  when others =>  Z <= 'X';
end case;
















A range may not be used with a vector type

case VEC is
  when "000" to "010" 
               =>  Z <= A;   -- illegal
  when "111"   =>  Z <= B;
  when others  =>  Z <= 'X';
end case;
















See also the null statement














Synthesis Issues






The CASE statement is generally synthesisable.


With repeated assignments to a target signal, it willsynthesise to a
large multiplexer with logic on the select inputs to evaluate the
conditions for the different choices in the case statement branches. No
"priority" will be inferred from the order of the branches


With multiple targets and embedded if statements, the case
statement may be used to synthesise a general mapping function, e.g.
next state and output generation for a finite state machine. For
example:








case READ_CPU_STATE is
  when WAITING =>
    if CPU_DATA_VALID = '1' then
      CPU_DATA_READ  <= '1';
      READ_CPU_STATE <= DATA1;
    end if;
  when DATA1 =>
    -- etc.
end case;














Whats New in '93




In VHDL-93, the casestatement may have an optional label:

label: case expression is
... etc.
end case label;