In React Router v5, Switch iterated through its child Route elements in order and rendered only the first one whose path matched the current URL, exclusively, which meant a route's ordering mattered a great deal, and a more general path like '/' typically needed to be listed last to avoid accidentally matching before a more specific one earlier got a chance. React Router v6 replaced Switch with Routes, which uses a smarter, specificity-based matching algorithm that picks the best match rather than simply the first one in list order, meaning route ordering generally no longer matters the way it did with Switch, and the exact prop is also renamed from component to element.
1Understanding Switch
In React Router v5, Switch iterated through its child Route elements in order and rendered only the first one whose path matched the current URL, exclusively, which meant a route's ordering mattered a great deal, and a more general path like '/' typically needed to be listed last to avoid accidentally matching before a more specific one earlier got a chance. React Router v6 replaced Switch with Routes, which uses a smarter, specificity-based matching algorithm that picks the best match rather than simply the first one in list order, meaning route ordering generally no longer matters the way it did with Switch, and the exact prop is also renamed from component to element.
If you're following an older tutorial using Switch and the component prop, you're looking at React Router v5 syntax — modern React Router, v6+, uses Routes and the element prop instead, with meaningfully different behavior around route matching order.
// React Router v5
import { Switch, Route } from 'react-router-dom';
function App() {
return (
<Switch>
<Route path="/about" component={About} />
<Route path="/" component={Home} />
</Switch>
);
}2Practical Example
Here is a real-world application of Switch showing how it is used in production React code.
// React Router v6 equivalent
import { Routes, Route } from 'react-router-dom';
function App() {
return (
<Routes>
<Route path="/" element={<Home />} />
<Route path="/about" element={<About />} />
</Routes>
);
}3Best Practices
Follow these guidelines when working with Switch:
1. Recognize Switch and the component prop as React Router v5 syntax, and use the modern Routes/element equivalent for any new project on v6 or later
2. Check which major version of react-router-dom a piece of documentation or a tutorial assumes before copying route-related code, since v5 and v6 syntax differ substantially
3. Rely on v6's Routes to pick the best specificity match automatically, rather than manually ordering routes from most to least specific the way Switch required
Tip: If you're following an older tutorial using Switch and the component prop, you're looking at React Router v5 syntax — modern React Router, v6+, uses Routes and the element prop instead, with meaningfully different behavior around route matching order.
// React Router v5
import { Switch, Route } from 'react-router-dom';
function App() {
return (
<Switch>
<Route path="/about" component={About} />
<Route path="/" component={Home} />
</Switch>
);
}