Formatting Credit card names from API response

Question

I have an API that returns the brand of a credit card. I want to make them look nice for my user (e.g. correct case and spacing). The possible options are amex, diners, discover, jcb, mastercard, unionpay, visa, or unknown. Here's how I am currently doing it:

if ($x == "jcb") {
    $x = strtoupper($x); 
} elseif ($x == "amex"){
    $x = "American Express";
} elseif ($x == "diners"){
    $x = "Diners Club";
} elseif ($x == "unionpay"){
    $x = "UnionPay";
} else {
    $x = ucfirst($x); 
}

Is there a more efficient way of doing this?

Answer 1

the code looks a bit messy. Personally I would make it either an array lookup,

$card_trans = [
    "jcb"      => "JCB",
    "amex"     => "American Express",
    "diners"   => "Diners Club",
    "unionpay" => "UnionPay",
];
$card = $card_trans[$card] ?? ucfirst($card);

or a match expression available with PHP 8+:

$card = match ($card) {
    "jcb"      => "JCB",
    "amex"     => "American Express",
    "diners"   => "Diners Club",
    "unionpay" => "UnionPay",
    default    => ucfirst($card),
};

Answer 2

Using the array lookup, as YCS suggested, is a common convention to eliminate series of conditional statements. There are some other aspects of the code addressed below.

Use descriptive variable names

A variable name like $x for a string is not very descriptive of what the string value typically holds. A name like $card or $cardName makes it easier for anyone reading the code (including your future self) to know what each variable represents.

Consider using multiple variables

The variable $x is overwritten, though it may be useful to know the raw/original value later in the code. For this reason it may be wise to consider using a different variable for the updated name - e.g. $formattedCard.

Use strict type comparisons

The conditional statements use loose equality operators - i.e. ==. When the variable should usually be a string then strict equality comparison operators (e.g. ===) can be used. It is a good habit to use strict equality operators whenever possible.