CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpif-statementconditional-statements
user765368
user765368

Reputation: 20346

programming 101 if/else statement

This is probably the easiest question to answer that you will find on stackoverflow, but I would like to get this confusion out of my head once and for all. Consider the following if statement:

if(x > 0)
{
    echo 'Inside if';
}
// apparently there is a hidden else here....

echo 'This comes after if';

And now consider the following one:

if(x > 0)
{
    echo 'Inside if';
}
else
{
    echo 'Inside else';
}

echo 'This comes after if/else';

In the first example, if the condition evaluates to true, "Inside if" will be printed, but won't what comes after the if ("This comes after if") get printed also? I mean, I don't have return inside my if, so the code should continue normally, right?. Same thing for the second if statement, whatever comes after the statement will get printed because the execution of the code will continue normally. Is there really a virtual else after an if-statement if we don't explicitly define one? I mean, if what comes after my if statement is printed whether the condition evaluates to true or not, then there's not really a virtual else after my if. Also, When is an Else absolutely necessary in an if-then-else statement instead of just relying on the "virtual else" as in the first example? Please shed some light on this.

Thank you

Upvotes: 1

Views: 869

Answers (4)

Gordon Bailey
Gordon Bailey

Reputation: 3911

The difference between the "virtual else" and the else is that the virtual else is always executed, whereas the real else is only conditionally executed. For example, consider that this:

if(x > 0)
{
    echo 'Inside if';
}
else
{
    echo 'Inside else';
}

echo 'This comes after if/else';

is exactly the same as this:

if(x > 0)
{
    echo 'Inside if';
}
if(x <= 0)
{
    echo 'Inside else';
}
if(x == x)
{
    echo 'This comes after if/else';
}

Your "virtual else" is not really an else at all, it is always executed.

Upvotes: 0

BD.
BD.

Reputation: 890

Simple example of where you need an ELSE:

IF (loadfile == True)
{
    println("file loaded...on to processing...");
}
ELSE
{
    :: raise an error and stop execution ::
}

:: continue with processing file ::

Upvotes: 0

Jeremy Harris
Jeremy Harris

Reputation: 24549

There isn't really a hidden else. A conditional statement is a way to branch off the procedural execution of your code temporarily. Once completed, it will continue where it left off unless you do a return from within a function for example.

Upvotes: 0

Anthony Grist
Anthony Grist

Reputation: 38345

An else is "absolutely necessary" whenever you want to actually do something if the if condition evaluated to false. If you only want to do something in the case where it's true, and absolutely nothing when it's false, you can skip the else part.

Upvotes: 5

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