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Language Keyword

Conditionally executes a group of statements, depending on the value of a boolean expression.

Syntax

If condition Then
statements
[ElseIf condition-n Then
elseIfStatements]...
[Else
elseStatements]
End [If]
OR
If condition Then statement [Else] [statement]

Part	Description
condition	Required. A boolean, numeric, or string expression that evaluates to True or False.
statements	Optional. One or more statements that are executed if condition is True.
condition-n	Optional. Same as condition.
elseIfStatements	Optional. One or more statements executed that are executed if the associated condition-n is True.
elseStatements	Optional. One or more statements executed if no previous condition or condition-n expression is True.

Notes

For conditional compilation, see ＃If...＃Endif.

When executing an If statement, the condition is tested. If condition is True, the statements associated with the If statement following the Then statement are executed. If condition is False and an Else clause follows, its statements will be executed. If condition is False and there is no Else clause or it is preceded by an ElseIf statement, the condition following the ElseIf statement is tested. After executing the statements following Then, ElseIf or Else execution continues with the statement that follows End If.

When writing an If statement, you can use a couple of shortcuts. First, you can write only the statements that are executed if the condition is True. Then select the statements, display the Code Editor's contextual menu, and choose Wrap in If...End if. The Code Editor will then add an If statement above the selected lines and an End If statement below them. All you need to do is write the condition.

The other shortcut is this: Write the "If condition" portion of the statement and then press Ctrl+Shift+Return (Command+Shift+Return on Mac OS X). The Code Editor will then add the "'Then'" and the "'End if"' and put the cursor between them.

An If statement can be written on one line, provided the code that follows the Then and Else statements can be written on one line. Using this syntax, you omit the End if statement. For example, the following examples are valid:

If error = 123 Then MessageBox("An error occurred.")
If error = 123 Then MessageBox("An error occurred.") Else MessageBox("Never mind!")

The following is not valid because the Then clause requires two lines:

If error = 123 Then MessageBox("An error occurred.") // Syntax error

You can declare variables using the Var statement inside an If statement. However, such variables go out of scope after the End If statement. For example:

If error = -123 Then
Var a As String
a = "Whoops! An error occured."
End If
MessageBox(a) // Error: This method or property does not exist because a has gone out of scope

Sample Code

This example shows a simple If statement:

If error = -123 Then
Beep
MessageBox("Whoops! An error occured.")
End If

This example shows an If statement that includes the use of ElseIf and Else clauses:

Var theNumber As Integer
Var digits As Integer
theNumber = 33
If theNumber < 10 Then
digits = 1
ElseIf theNumber < 100 Then
digits = 2
ElseIf theNumber < 1000 Then
digits = 3
Else
digits = 4
End If

This example demonstrates using And to combine multiple conditions:

Var theNumber As Integer = 50

If theNumber > 10 And theNumber < 60 Then
MessageBox("In range")
Else
MessageBox("Out of range")
End If

By default, this code will display "In Range" because 50 is between 10 and 60.

This example uses Or to combine multiple conditions:

Var theNumber As Integer = 5

If theNumber <= 10 Or theNumber >= 60 Then
MessageBox("Out of range")
Else
MessageBox("In range")
End If

This code will display "Out of range" because 5 is less than 10.

See Also

Select Case statement, If operator, ＃If...＃Endif