Hướng dẫn conditional statement in javascript


Conditional statements are used to perform different actions based on different conditions.


Conditional Statements

Very often when you write code, you want to perform different actions for different decisions.

You can use conditional statements in your code to do this.

In JavaScript we have the following conditional statements:

  • Use if to specify a block of code to be executed, if a specified condition is true
  • Use else to specify a block of code to be executed, if the same condition is false
  • Use else if to specify a new condition to test, if the first condition is false
  • Use switch to specify many alternative blocks of code to be executed

The switch statement is described in the next chapter.


The if Statement

Use the if statement to specify a block of JavaScript code to be executed if a condition is true.

Syntax

if (condition) {
  //  block of code to be executed if the condition is true
}

Note that if is in lowercase letters. Uppercase letters (If or IF) will generate a JavaScript error.

Example

Make a "Good day" greeting if the hour is less than 18:00:

if (hour < 18) {
  greeting = "Good day";
}

The result of greeting will be:

Try it Yourself »



The else Statement

Use the else statement to specify a block of code to be executed if the condition is false.

if (condition) {
  //  block of code to be executed if the condition is true
} else {
  //  block of code to be executed if the condition is false
}

Example

If the hour is less than 18, create a "Good day" greeting, otherwise "Good evening":

if (hour < 18) {
  greeting = "Good day";
} else {
  greeting = "Good evening";
}

The result of greeting will be:

Try it Yourself »


The else if Statement

Use the else if statement to specify a new condition if the first condition is false.

Syntax

if (condition1) {
  //  block of code to be executed if condition1 is true
} else if (condition2) {
  //  block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and condition2 is true
} else {
  //  block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and condition2 is false
}

Example

If time is less than 10:00, create a "Good morning" greeting, if not, but time is less than 20:00, create a "Good day" greeting, otherwise a "Good evening":

if (time < 10) {
  greeting = "Good morning";
} else if (time < 20) {
  greeting = "Good day";
} else {
  greeting = "Good evening";
}

The result of greeting will be:

Try it Yourself »


More Examples

Random link
This example will write a link to either W3Schools or to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF). By using a random number, there is a 50% chance for each of the links.




The if statement executes a statement if a specified condition is truthy. If the condition is falsy, another statement in the optional else clause will be executed.

Try it

Syntax

if (condition)
  statement1

// With an else clause
if (condition)
  statement1
else
  statement2

condition

An expression that is considered to be either truthy or falsy.

statement1

Statement that is executed if condition is truthy. Can be any statement, including further nested if statements. To execute multiple statements, use a block statement ({ /* ... */ }) to group those statements. To execute no statements, use an empty statement.

statement2

Statement that is executed if condition is falsy and the else clause exists. Can be any statement, including block statements and further nested if statements.

Description

Multiple if...else statements can be nested to create an else if clause. Note that there is no elseif (in one word) keyword in JavaScript.

if (condition1)
  statement1
else if (condition2)
  statement2
else if (condition3)
  statement3
// …
else
  statementN

To see how this works, this is how it would look if the nesting were properly indented:

if (condition1)
  statement1
else
  if (condition2)
    statement2
  else
    if (condition3)
      statement3
// …

To execute multiple statements within a clause, use a block statement ({ /* ... */ }) to group those statements.

if (condition) {
  statements1
} else {
  statements2
}

Not using blocks may lead to confusing behavior, especially if the code is hand-formatted. For example:

function checkValue(a, b) {
  if (a === 1)
    if (b === 2)
      console.log("a is 1 and b is 2");
  else
    console.log("a is not 1");
}

This code looks innocent — however, executing checkValue(1, 3) will log "a is not 1". This is because in the case of dangling else, the else clause will be connected to the closest if clause. Therefore, the code above, with proper indentation, would look like:

function checkValue(a, b) {
  if (a === 1)
    if (b === 2)
      console.log("a is 1 and b is 2");
    else
      console.log("a is not 1");
}

In general, it is a good practice to always use block statements, especially in code involving nested if statements.

function checkValue(a, b) {
  if (a === 1) {
    if (b === 2) {
      console.log("a is 1 and b is 2");
    } else {
      console.log("a is not 1");
    }
  }
}

Do not confuse the primitive Boolean values true and false with truthiness or falsiness of the Boolean object. Any value that is not false, undefined, null, 0, -0, NaN, or the empty string (""), and any object, including a Boolean object whose value is false, is considered truthy when used as the condition. For example:

const b = new Boolean(false);
if (b) // this condition is truthy
  statement

Examples

Using if...else

if (cipherChar === fromChar) {
  result += toChar;
  x++;
} else {
  result += clearChar;
}

Using else if

Note that there is no elseif syntax in JavaScript. However, you can write it with a space between else and if:

if (x > 50) {
  /* do something */
} else if (x > 5) {
  /* do something */
} else {
  /* do something */
}

Using an assignment as a condition

You should almost never have an if...else with an assignment like x = y as a condition:

if (x = y) {
  /* do something */
}

However, in the rare case you find yourself wanting to do something like that, the while documentation has a Using an assignment as a condition section with an example showing a general best-practice syntax you should know about and follow.

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Language Specification
# sec-if-statement

Browser compatibility

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See also