What Are Conditionals?

Conditionals are an essential aspect of programming, and Go is no exception here. In this article, we’ll explore the various ways that you can use conditionals in Go to control the flow of your program.

Basic Example of a Conditional

The most basic form of a conditional in Go is the if statement. The if statement evaluates a boolean expression, and if the expression is true, the code block following the if statement is executed. Here’s an example of an if statement in Go:

x := 5
if x > 0 {
    fmt.Println("x is positive")
}

In this example the if statement checks if the value of x is greater than 0. Since x is equal to 5, the if statement evaluates to true, and the code block following the if statement is executed, printing “x is positive” to the console.

Adding An Else Clause

You can also include the else clause with an if statement, which is executed if the boolean expression in the if stateent evaluates to false. Here’s an example:

x := -5
if x > 0 {
    fmt.Println("x is positive")
} else {
    fmt.Println("x is not positive")
}

In this example, the value of x is -5, so the if statement evaluates to false, and the code block following the else statement is executed, printing “x is not positive” to the console.

Adding the Else If Clause

We can also chain multiple if and else statements together with the else if clause. Here’s an example:

x := 0
if x > 0 {
    fmt.Println("x is positive")
} else if x < 0 {
    fmt.Println("x is negative")
} else {
    fmt.Println("x is zero")
}

In this example, the value of x is 0, so the first if statement is false and the second if statement is false, the code block following the else statement is executed, printing “x is zero” to the console.

Short-Circuit Evaluation

You can also use the short-circuit evaluation feature of Go in your conditional statements. It allows you to check multiple conditions in a single if statement and terminate the execution as soon as one of the conditions is true. Here’s an example:

x := 5
y := 10
if x > 0 && y > 0 {
    fmt.Println("Both x and y are positive")
}

In this example, the if statement checks if both x and y are greater than 0. Since both x and y are greater than 0, the if statement evaluates to true, and the code block following the if statement is executed, printing “Both x and y are positive” to the console.

Conclusion

Conditionals in Go are an essential aspect of programming, and they provide a powerful way to control the flow of your program. You can use if and else statements to control the execution of code blocks, and you can use the else if clause to chain multiple conditions together. Also, you can use short-circuit evaluation for multiple conditions to check in a single if statement. You should now have a solid understanding of how to use conditionals in Go to control the flow of your program.