C++ Primer Plus

The if else Statement

Whereas an if statement lets a program decide whether a particular statement or block is executed, an if else statement lets a program decide which of two statements or blocks is executed. It’s an invaluable statement for creating alternative courses of action. The C++ if else statement is modeled after simple English, as in “If you have a Captain Cookie card, you get a Cookie Plus Plus, else you just get a Cookie d’Ordinaire.” The if else statement has this general form:

if (test-condition)    statement1else    statement2

If test-condition is true, or nonzero, the program executes statement1 and skips over statement2. Otherwise, when test-condition is false, or zero, the program skips statement1 and executes statement2 ...