if and else -just making absolutely sure...

Question

4.00/5 (2 votes)

See more:

I'm no expert, but I honestly thought I understood if and else OK... but I'm not sure now :~

So, just to make absolutely sure, if you have

int a = 0;
int b = 1;
CString strOutput;
if(a == 0)
{
	strOutput = "I am a boy.";
}
else if(b == 1)
{
	strOutput = "I am a girl.";
}

what does strOutput say?

I thought it'd be "I am a boy.", but I was debugging through some code when it said "I am a boy." then "I am a girl.", i.e. executed both branches.

Admittedly, I was making a mess of memory access all over the place, so it could have been that, but please, some one tell me, should this piece of code execute all paths, or just one? And have I got the number of brackets right? (The compiler should have spotted that, of course, but hey...)

As an aside, part of the confusion is that my preferred tool that is Matlab distinguishes between if-else and if-elseif.

Posted 12-Apr-10 15:49pm

PaulowniaK

Add a Solution

4 solutions

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Saurabh.Garg · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-12T16:11:00

Solution 1

Your understanding is correct and strOutput must be "I am a boy.".

-Saurabh

Posted 12-Apr-10 16:11pm

Saurabh.Garg

Updated 12-Apr-10 16:32pm

v2

Abhinav S · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-12T18:30:00

Solution 2

Your output has to be "I am a boy."

Posted 12-Apr-10 18:30pm

Abhinav S

v2

stebich · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-12T20:23:00

Your if - else understanding is correct and also the number of {} brackets.

PaulowniaK wrote:

if(a == 0)
{
   strOutput = "I am a boy.";
}
else if(b == 1)
{
   strOutput = "I am a girl.";
}

The 2nd pair of {} brackets belong to the if, you could also write:

if(a == 0)
{
   strOutput = "I am a boy.";
}
else 
{
   if(b == 1)
   {
      strOutput = "I am a girl.";
   }
}

But the result will be the same.

**Kunal Chowdhury «IN»** · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-12T22:19:00

Solution 4

Hi PaulowniaK,

There is no difference & your code is absolutely right. It must print out "I am a boy" only and not the second part as it already entered into the if {} block.

Are you noticing the same again and again, means are you able to reproduce it any time? Let me know.

Posted 12-Apr-10 22:19pm

Kunal Chowdhury «IN»