recent bash versions reportedly introduced fallthru ;& and resume ;;& alternatives to ;;:

stackoverflow.com/a/24544780/4240261:

Recent bash versions allow fall-through by using ;& in stead of ;;: they also allow resuming the case checks by using ;;& there.


for n in 4 14 24 34
do
  echo -n "$n = "
  case "$n" in
   3? )
     echo -n thirty-
     ;;&   #resume (to find ?4 later )
   "24" )
     echo -n twenty-
     ;&   #fallthru
   "4" | ?4)
     echo -n four 
     ;;&  # resume ( to find teen where needed )
   "14" )
     echo -n teen
  esac
  echo 
done

sample output


4 = four
14 = fourteen
24 = twenty-four
34 = thirty-four