JavaScript Conditional Statements

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

Examples

If statement
How to write an If statement. Use this statement if you want to execute a set of code if a specified condition is true.

If...else statement
How to write an If...Else statement. Use this statement if you want to execute one set of code if the condition is true and another set of code if the condition is false.

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Switch statement
How to write a switch statement. Use this statement if you want to select one of many blocks of code to execute.

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 three conditional statements:

• if statement - use this statement if you want to execute a set of code when a condition is true
• if...else statement - use this statement if you want to select one of two sets of lines to execute
• switch statement - use this statement if you want to select one of many sets of lines to execute

If and If...else Statement

You should use the if statement if you want to execute some code if a condition is true.

Syntax

if (condition)
{
code to be executed if condition is true
}

Example

<script type="text/javascript">
//If the time on your browser is less than 10,
//you will get a "Good morning" greeting.

var d=new Date()
var time=d.getHours()

if (time<10) 
{
document.write("<b>Good morning</b>")
}
</script>

Notice that there is no ..else.. in this syntax. You just tell the code to execute some code if the condition is true.

If you want to execute some code if a condition is true and another code if a condition is false, use the if....else statement.

Syntax

if (condition)
{
code to be executed if condition is true
}
else
{
code to be executed if condition is false
}

Example

<script type="text/javascript">
//If the time on your browser is less than 10,
//you will get a "Good morning" greeting.
//Otherwise you will get a "Good day" greeting.

var d = new Date()
var time = d.getHours()

if (time < 10) 
{
document.write("Good morning!")
}
else
{
document.write("Good day!")
}
</script>

Switch Statement

You should use the Switch statement if you want to select one of many blocks of code to be executed.

Syntax

switch (expression)
{
case label1:
  code to be executed if expression = label1
  break    
case label2:
  code to be executed if expression = label2
  break
default:
  code to be executed
  if expression is different 
  from both label1 and label2
}

This is how it works: First we have a single expression (most often a variable), that is evaluated once. The value of the expression is then compared with the values for each case in the structure. If there is a match, the block of code associated with that case is executed. Use break to prevent the code from running into the next case automatically.

Example

<script type="text/javascript">
//You will receive a different greeting based
//on what day it is. Note that Sunday=0,
//Monday=1, Tuesday=2, etc.

var d=new Date()
theDay=d.getDay()
switch (theDay)
{
case 5:
  document.write("Finally Friday")
  break
case 6:
  document.write("Super Saturday")
  break
case 0:
  document.write("Sleepy Sunday")
  break
default:
  document.write("I'm looking forward to this weekend!")
}
</script>

Conditional Operator

JavaScript also contains a conditional operator that assigns a value to a variable based on some condition.

Syntax

variablename=(condition)?value1:value2 

Example

greeting=(visitor=="PRES")?"Dear President ":"Dear "

If the variable visitor is equal to PRES, then put the string "Dear President " in the variable named greeting. If the variable visitor is not equal to PRES, then put the string "Dear " into the variable named greeting.

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