Are else's required?

zoobie

I was wondering...If I've covered all array postings with if's, is the closing 'else' required? Is it a good idea to use a default 'else' just in case vars haven't posted? Thanks

e.g.
if($POST["style"] == "style1") {do this}
if($POST["style"] == "style2") {do this}
if($_POST["style"] == "style3") {do this}
without any 'else'?

Thanks :p

yuraupt

It's better to use switch:

switch($_POST["style"]){
case "style1":
do_this;
do_that;
break;
case "style2":
do_this;
do_that;
break;
case "style3":
do_this;
do_that;
break;
default:
do_something;
break;
}

yuraupt

Sorry, it should look better...

It's better to use switch:

switch($_POST["style"]){
  case "style1":
    do_this;
    do_that;
    break;
  case "style2":
    do_this;
    do_that;
    break;
  case "style3":
    do_this;
    do_that;
    break;
  default:
    do_something;
    break;
}

zoobie

Huh? :rolleyes:

superwormy

yuraupt is, to say the least, rather confused.

It all depends on your situation. Sometimes } else { is nice to have to handle errors, sometimes it doesnt matter, cause you don't want it to do anything else if something doesn't occur.

It's not required though, no, it all depends on what your application needs.

Weedpacket

superwormy is right about else not being necessary in your case (you could use a switch, however).

On the other hand, by using else (or elseif) you give PHP a chance to skip over conditions that couldn't be true.
In:

if($_POST['style']=='style1'){do this 1}
if($_POST['style']=='style2'){do this 2}

PHP first of course checks to see if $_POST['style']=='style', If it is, it does "this 1".

But then PHP goes on to check if $_POST['style']=='style2'. Now, it won't be, of course, so "this 2" won't be run; but PHP still has to check, 'cos you told it to.

On the other hand, in:

if($_POST['style']=='style1'){do this 1}
elseif($_POST['style']=='style2'){do this 2}

After checking and finding that $POST['style']=='style1', it does "this 1" and skips everything in the else block - it doesn't waste time futilely checking and finding that $POST['style'] does not equal 'style2', 'style3', ... etc.

yuraupt

Originally posted by superwormy
yuraupt is, to say the least, rather confused.

superwormy, I just wanted to point to zoobie that there is one another way to check and process conditions.

Of course, I don't use switch when I have to check 2 or 3 cases. I'd rather use if{} elseif{}. You are right - it depends. On the situation and on your preferences and style.

A row of if statements presented in the original message is not the best style as for me.

This problem doesn't worth any more to discuss further, but I was not confused. That's what I'm trying to say.