Close
Close

Java If and Else


Till now, we have learned about printing something on screen, taking input from a user, different data types and operators. These were all the basics of Java, From this chapter onwards, we will look into more programmatic concepts of Java.

Many times, we need to check a condition to make a decision. For example, if it is raining, we will take an umbrella, otherwise not. Similarly, if a number is divisible by 2, it is even, otherwise, it is odd.

If else in Java

Such types of decisions are made in Java using if...else.


Java if Statement

Again take the example of raining. If it is raining, a person will take an umbrella. This type of decision making is done using an if statement.

Let's have a look at the syntax of an if statement before looking at examples.

Java if Syntax

if(condition) {
    statements
}

First, if(condition) is written, where the condition written within parentheses ( ) is what affects the decision to be made.

The statements written inside the braces { } following if(condition) constitute the body of if.

If the condition is true, then the statements inside the body of if are executed, otherwise they are not executed.

Java if Examples

Let’s see an example.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int num1 = 10, num2 = 20;
        if (num1 < num2) {
            System.out.println("num2 is greater than num1");
        }
    }
}
Output
num2 is greater than num1

Here, the condition of if is num1 < num2.

The body of if contains the statement System.out.println("num2 is greater than num1"). This statement will get executed only if the condition of if is true.

Since the values of the variables num1 and num2 are 10 and 20 respectively, the condition num1 < num2 became true and thus the statement in the body of if got executed and "num2 is greater than num1" got printed.

If the value of num1 was more than num2, then the condition of if would have become false and the statement in its body would not have executed.

Try this case yourself.

It is a good practice to add indentation before the statements inside the body of if.

That was easy, right?

Look at another example.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int num1 = 10, num2 = 20;
        if (num1 < num2) {
            System.out.println("num2 is greater than num1");
        }

        System.out.println("This statement is outside the body of if");
    }
}
Output
num2 is greater than num1
This statement is outside the body of if

In this example, we added a statement outside the body of if. Thus, this statement System.out.println("This statement is outside the body of if") will always get executed irrespective of whether the condition of if is true or false.

Let’s see one more example.

import java.util.Scanner;

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Enter your age");

        Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);
        int age = s.nextInt();

        if (age > 18) {
            System.out.println("Your age is 18+");
            System.out.println("You are eligible to vote");
        }

        System.out.println("This statement is outside the body of if");
    }
}
Output
Enter your age 20
Your age is 18+
You are eligible to vote
This statement is outside the body of if

Here, the condition of if is age > 18.

The body of if consists of the statements System.out.println("Your age is 18+") and System.out.println("You are eligible to vote").

In the program, we are assigning the age entered by the user to a variable age. Since the age entered by the user is 20, the condition age > 18 became true and the statements inside the body of if got executed.

If the body of if or else consists of only one statement, then the braces { } enclosing the body can be omitted. (We will learn about else in the next section)

first statement of if in Java

If there is just one statement in the body of if, then it is not mandatory to put the braces { } to enclose the body. For example, in the first and second programs we saw in this chapter, the body of if can be written without being enclosed within { } as shown below.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int num1 = 10, num2 = 20;
        if (num1 < num2) System.out.println("num2 is greater than num1");

        System.out.println("This statement is outside the body of if");
    }
}
Output
num2 is greater than num1
This statement is outside the body of if

In the above example, since we have not written braces { } for marking the body of if, the first statement written after the if(num1 < num2), i.e. System.out.println("num2 is greater than num1") is considered as the body of if.

Numbers like 1, 1.2, 3, etc except 0 are also evaluated as true if used as a condition. 0 is evaluated as false.

Let's look at one more example.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        if (true) System.out.println("This will always execute!");
    }
}
Output
This will always execute!

We have directly written true for the condition. Hence, the condition is always true and the statement inside if - System.out.println("This will always execute!"); is always executed.

So, it was this easy to check a condition and perform a task or print something if that condition is true. Wait, there is more that we can do by checking conditions. Let’s look at that in the next sections.


Java if...else Statement

Now, consider the same example of raining. If it is raining, a person will take an umbrella, otherwise the person will wear a hat. Such decision making in which if the condition is true, then we perform some action, and if the condition is false, then we perform some other action is done using an if...else statement.

Let’s look at the syntax of an if...else statement.

Java if...else Syntax

if(condition) {
	statements
}
else {
	statements
}

The statements written inside the braces { } following if(condition) constitute the body of if.

The statements written inside the braces { } following else constitute the body of else.

If the condition is true, then the statements inside the body of if are executed, otherwise the statements inside the body of else are executed.

Java if...else Examples

Let’s see an example.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int num1 = 20, num2 = 10;

        if (num1 < num2) {
            System.out.println("num2 is greater than num1");
        } else {
            System.out.println("num2 is less than num1");
        }

        System.out.println("This statement is outside the body of if and else");
    }
}
Output
num2 is less than num1
This statement is outside the body of if and else

Since num1 is greater than num2, the condition num1 < num2 became false, and hence the statement in the body of else got executed.

If the condition was true, then the statement in the body of if would have got executed resulting in the following output.

num2 is greater than num1
This statement is outside the body of if and else

Look at another example.

import java.util.Scanner;

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Enter your age");

        Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);
        int age = s.nextInt();

        if (age > 18) {
            System.out.println("Your age is 18+");
            System.out.println("You are eligible to vote");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Your age is not 18+");
            System.out.println("You are not eligible to vote");
        }
    }
}
Output
Enter your age 15
Your age is not 18+
You are not eligible to vote

Since the age entered by the user is 15, the condition age > 18 became false and the statements inside the body of else got executed.

Now let’s write a program to check if a number is even or odd.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int num = 12;

        if (num % 2 == 0) {
            System.out.println("Number is even");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Number is odd");
        }
    }
}
Output
Number is even

In the condition num % 2 == 0, we are checking if the remainder obtained by dividing num by 2 is 0. If it is 0 (num is perfectly divisible by 2), then the body of if gets executed, otherwise the body of else gets executed. In this program, the value of num is 12, hence the condition became true and the body of if got executed.

Since the body of if and else in the above example contains just one statement each, so we can remove the braces { } enclosing the body as shown below.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int num = 12;

        if (num % 2 == 0) System.out.println(
            "Number is even"
        ); else System.out.println("Number is odd");
    }
}
Output
Number is even

Java else if Statement

Many times we fall in situations when only if and else are not sufficient. For example, if you have 5 rupees, then you will buy a candy, if you have 10 rupees, then a chocolate and if more than 100, then a cake. Java provides another tool else if to get this done.

Let’s look at its syntax.

Java else if Syntax

if(condition) {
	statements
}
else if(condition) {
	statements
}
else if(condition) {
	statements
}
...
...
else {
	statements
}

First, the condition of if is checked. If it is true, then the body of if is executed.

If the condition of if is false, then the condition of the first else if is checked. If the condition of the first else if is true, then its body is executed, otherwise the condition of the next else if is checked.

If the conditions of if and all the else if blocks are false, then the body of the else is executed.

Java else if Examples

Look at the following example.

import java.util.*;

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int x, y, z;
        Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);

        System.out.println("Enter first number");
        x = s.nextInt();

        System.out.println("Enter second number");
        y = s.nextInt();

        System.out.println("Enter third number");
        z = s.nextInt();

        if ((x > y) && (x > z)) {
            System.out.println(x + " is the greatest integer");
        } else if ((y > x) && (y > z)) {
            System.out.println(y + " is the greatest integer");
        } else System.out.println(z + " is the greatest integer");
    }
}
Output
Enter first number
4
Enter second number
5
Enter third number
1
5 is the greatest integer

First, the condition of if is checked. If it is false, then the condition of else if is checked and if that is also false, then the body of else is executed.

In the above example, we are given three numbers x, y and z and we have to find the greatest among them. For that, first we will compare the first number with the other numbers i.e. x with both y and z. If the condition (x>y && x>z) of if is true (if both are true, means x is the greatest), then the body of if is executed.

If not, then the condition (y>x && y>z) of else if is checked. If this condition is true, then the body of else if will be executed. If this is also false, then the body of else will be executed.

In our case, since x is greater than y and z, therefore the condition of if became true and its body got executed.

Let’s see one more example.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        char grade = 'A';
        if (grade == 'A') {
            System.out.println("Excellent !");
        } else if (grade == 'B') {
            System.out.println("Outstanding !");
        } else if (grade == 'C') {
            System.out.println("Good !");
        } else if (grade == 'D') {
            System.out.println("Can do better");
        } else if (grade == 'E') {
            System.out.println("Just passed");
        } else if (grade == 'F') {
            System.out.println("You failed");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Invalid grade");
        }
    }
}
Output
Excellent !

First the condition of if is checked. If it is true, then only statements in the body of if are executed, otherwise the condition of the first else if is checked. If it is true, then its body is executed, otherwise the condition of the next else if is checked. If none of them are true, then the body of else is executed.

Java Nested if...else Statements

We can use if, if...else or if...else if...else statements inside the body of other if, if...else or if...else if...else statements. This is called nesting.

Let’s see an example.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int rating = 8;

        if (rating < 5) {
            System.out.println("Bad rating");
        } else {
            if (rating < 8) {
                System.out.println("Average rating");
            } else {
                System.out.println("Good rating");
            }
        }
    }
}
Output
Good rating

Suppose the rating for a product can be from 1 to 10. If the rating is less than 5, then it is considered a Bad rating. Otherwise, if the rating is from 5 to 7 then it is an Average rating, and if the rating is from 8 to 10 then it is a Good rating.

Nested if else in Java

Here, we assigned the value 8 to the variable rating. In if...else, the condition rating < 5 of the outer if is checked. Since the condition is false, the statements inside the body of the outer else are executed.

The following statements are inside the body of the outer else.

if(rating < 8) {
    System.out.println("Average rating");
}
else {
    System.out.println("Good rating");
}

The first statement i.e., if(rating < 8) got executed first. Since its condition rating < 8 is false, the statement System.out.println("Good rating") inside the body of the inner else got executed.

Now look at another example. The following program checks whether a number is the greatest among three numbers.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int x = 5, y = 2, z = 8;
        if (x > y) {
            if (x > z) System.out.println(
                "x is the greatest integer"
            ); else System.out.println("x is not the greatest integer");
        } else System.out.println("x is not the greatest integer");
    }
}
Output
x is not the greatest integer

Nested

Here, the following if...else statement is inside if(x > y).

if(x > z)
    System.out.println("x is the greatest integer");
else
    System.out.println("x is not the greatest integer");

Since the condition x > y of the outer if is true, the statements inside the body of if got executed. Inside the body of if, the first statement i.e., if(x > z) got executed first. Since its condition x > z is false, the statement System.out.println("x is not the greatest number.") in the body of the inner else got executed.

We can also do the same by using the && operator.

class Test{

    public static void main(String[] args){
        int x = 5, y = 2, z = 8;
        if ( (x > y) && (x > z) ){
            System.out.println( "x is the greatest integer" );
        }
    else
        System.out.println( "x is not the greatest integer" );
    }
}
Output
x is not the greatest integer

Here, the expression inside if is true only if both (x > y) and (x > z) are true. If that is the case, then x will be the greatest number, otherwise not.


Java Ternary Operator


Ternary operator checks a condition and then returns a value depending on whether the condition is true or false.

Look at the following statements.

int num = 10

String result = (num == 10) ? "num is equal to 10" : "num is not equal to 10";

In the second statement, ? : is a ternary operator. It takes three operands - num == 10, "num is equal to 10" and "num is not equal to 10".

The first operand is always a condition. If this condition is true, then the second operand is returned, otherwise the third operand is returned.

In our case, the condition num == 10 is checked. If this condition is true, then "num is equal to 10" is assigned to the variable result, otherwise "num is not equal to 10" is assigned to result. Since the value of num is 10, the value of result becomes "num is equal to 10".

Let’s generalize the syntax of the ternary operator.

Java Ternary Operator Syntax

condition ? value1 : value2

The condition is checked first. If it is true, then value1 is returned, and if it is false, then value2 is returned.

ternary operator in Java

Java Ternary Operator Examples

Now look at the following example.

class Test{

    public static void main(String[] args){
        int age = 20;
        String message = (age > 18) ? "You are eligible to vote" : "You are not eligible to vote";
        System.out.println(message);
    }
}
Output
You are eligible to vote

In this example, the condition age > 18 is true. Hence, the value "You are eligible to vote" is assigned to the variable message.

If the condition age > 18 was false, then the value "You are not eligible to vote" would have been assigned to message and the output would be as shown below.

You are not eligible to vote

Look at another example which prints the maximum among two numbers.

class Test{

    public static void main(String[] args){
        int num1 = 10, num2 = 20;
        int max = (num1 > num2) ? num1 : num2;
        System.out.println("The greater number is " + max);
    }
}
Output
The greater number is 20

Here, the condition num1 > num2 is false and hence num2 is assigned to the variable max.

Note that both the examples discussed above can be written using if..else as well. Using a ternary operator shortened the code.

Now let’s look at a more advanced example. The following program prints the maximum among three numbers.

class Test{

    public static void main(String[] args){
        int num1 = 10, num2 = 20, num3 = 30;
		
        int max = ((num1 > num2) && (num1 > num3)) ? num1 : ((num2 > num3) ? num2 : num3);
        System.out.println("The greatest number is " + max);
    }
}
Output
The greatest number is 30

This is an example of a nested ternary operator. Try to understand the code yourself before looking at the explanation.

Nested ternary operator in Java

We are given three numbers num1, num2 and num3 and we have to assign the greatest number among them to the variable max.

First, the condition (num1 > num2) && (num1 > num3) is checked. If this condition is true (which means num1 is the greatest number) (greater than num2 and num3 both), then num1 is assigned to max.

However, if this condition is false (which means num1 is not the greatest number), then the expression (num2 > num3) ? num2 : num3 is evaluated and assigned to max. In this expression, the condition num2 > num3 is checked. If this condition is true (which means num2 is the greatest), then num2 is assigned to max, else num3 is assigned to max.

The equivalent if/else code for the same example would be:

class Test{

    public static void main(String[] args){
        int num1 = 10, num2 = 20, num3 = 30;
        int max;
        if((num1 > num2) && (num1 > num3)) {
            max=num1;
        }
        else {
            if (num2 > num3)
                max = num2;
            else
                max = num3;
        }
        System.out.println("The greatest number is " + max);
    }
}
Output
The greatest number is 30
Using nested ternary operators instead of if...else is not recommended because it increases the complexity of the code.

In this chapter, you learned about different ways you can perform some task based on some condition. Though you saw different examples explaining the concept, it is necessary that you practice questions because it is a new concept. In the next chapter, we will look at another approach to perform decision making which can reduce the complexity of code as compared to if...else in some cases.

If something is important enough, even if the odds are stacked against you, you should still do it.
- Elon Musk


Ask Yours
Post Yours
Doubt? Ask question