One of the new features added in Java 7 is the capability to switch on a String.

With Java 6, or less

    String color = "red";  
      
    if (color.equals("red")) {  
      System.out.println("Color is Red");  
    } else if (color.equals("green")) {  
      System.out.println("Color is Green");  
    } else {  
      System.out.println("Color not found");  
    }  

 String color = "red";

 if (color.equals("red")) {
   System.out.println("Color is Red");
 } else if (color.equals("green")) {
   System.out.println("Color is Green");
 } else {
   System.out.println("Color not found");
 }

With Java 7:

String color = "red";  
   
 switch (color) {  
 case "red":  
   System.out.println("Color is Red");  
   break;  
case "green":  
  System.out.println("Color is Green");  
   break;  
 default:  
     System.out.println("Color not found");  
 }  

The switch statement when used with a String uses the equals() method to compare the given expression to each value in the case statement and is therefore case-sensitive and will throw a NullPointerException if the expression is null. It is a small but useful feature which not only helps us write more readable code but the compiler will likely generate more efficient bytecode as compared to the if-then-else statement.

From http://www.vineetmanohar.com/2011/03/new-java-7-feature-string-in-switch-support/