why .(type) only in switch golang code example

Example: type switch golang

var x interface{} = "foo"

switch v := x.(type) {
case nil:
    fmt.Println("x is nil")            // here v has type interface{}
case int: 
    fmt.Println("x is", v)             // here v has type int
case bool, string:
    fmt.Println("x is bool or string") // here v has type interface{}
default:
    fmt.Println("type unknown")        // here v has type interface{}
}