The strategy pattern is a behavioral design pattern that allows you to define a family of algorithms, encapsulate each one as an object, and make them interchangeable. The pattern lets the algorithm vary independently from clients that use it.

In other words, the strategy pattern allows you to define a set of algorithms that can be used interchangeably, depending on the situation. This is useful when you have multiple algorithms that can be used to solve a problem, and you want to be able to switch between them easily.

The strategy pattern consists of three main components:

1. Context: This is the object that uses the strategy. It contains a reference to the strategy object and delegates the work to it.

2. Strategy: This is the interface that defines the algorithm. It contains one or more methods that the context can call to perform the algorithm.

3. Concrete Strategy: These are the implementations of the strategy interface. Each concrete strategy implements the algorithm in a different way.

The strategy pattern is useful when you have a complex algorithm that can be broken down into smaller, simpler algorithms. By encapsulating each algorithm as a separate object, you can easily switch between them and modify them without affecting the rest of the code. This makes your code more flexible and easier to maintain.