Optimal control problems for switched nonlinear systems are investigated. We propose an alternative approach for solving the optimal control problem for a nonlinear switched system based on the theory of moments. The essence of this method is the transformation of a nonlinear, nonconvex optimal control problem, that is, the switched system, into an equivalent optimal control problem with linear and convex structure, which allows us to obtain an equivalent convex formulation more appropriate to be solved by high-performance numerical computing. Consequently, we propose to convexify the control variables by means of the method of moments obtaining semidefinite programs. Copyright (C) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.