# Conditionals in Go

> Learn how to use conditionals in Go, from the if, else, and else if statements to the switch statement, which needs no break after each case.

Author: [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/about/) | Published: 2022-09-16 | Topics: [Go](https://flaviocopes.com/tags/go/) | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/golang-conditionals/

We use the `if` statement to execute different instructions depending on a condition:

```go
if age < 18 {
	//underage
}
```

The `else` part is optional:

```go
if age < 18 {
	//underage
} else {
  //adult
}
```

and can be combined with other `if`:

```go
if age < 12 {
	//child
} else if age < 18  {
  //teen
} else {
	//adult
}
```

If you define any variable inside the `if`, that’s only visible inside the `if` (same applies to `else` and anywhere you open a new block with `{}`)

If you’re going to have many different if statements to check a single condition it’s probably better to use `switch`:

```go
switch age {
case 0: fmt.Println("Zero years old")
case 1: fmt.Println("One year old")
case 2: fmt.Println("Two years old")
case 3: fmt.Println("Three years old")
case 4: fmt.Println("Four years old")
default: fmt.Println(i + " years old")
}
```

> Compared to C, [JavaScript](https://flaviocopes.com/javascript/) and other languages you don’t need to have a `break` after each `case`
>