Swift Conditionals: `if`
This tutorial belongs to the Swift series
if
statements are the most popular way to perform a conditional check. We use the if
keyword followed by a boolean expression, followed by a block containing code that is ran if the condition is true:
let condition = true
if condition == true {
// code executed if the condition is true
}
An else
block is executed if the condition is false:
let condition = true
if condition == true {
// code executed if the condition is true
} else {
// code executed if the condition is false
}
You can optionally wrap the condition validation into parentheses if you prefer:
if (condition == true) {
// ...
}
And you can also just write:
if condition {
// runs if `condition` is `true`
}
or
if !condition {
// runs if `condition` is `false`
}
One thing that separates Swift from many other languages is that it prevents bugs caused by erroneously doing an assignment instead of a comparison. This means you can’t do this:
if condition = true {
// The program does not compile
}
and the reason is that the assignment operator does not return anything, but the if
conditional must be a boolean expression.
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