Java Conditionals

Why Use Conditionals?

Conditional statements let your program make decisions. For example, you can run different code depending on whether a value is true or false.

if, else if, and else Statements

Use these statements to test one or more conditions and execute different blocks of code depending on the result.

• if: runs if the condition is true
• else if: checks another condition if the first is false
• else: runs if none of the above are true

Nested if Statements

You can place if statements inside other if statements to test multiple layers of logic.

switch Statement

The switch statement is used as a cleaner alternative to multiple if-else conditions when checking a single variable against multiple possible values.

Each case matches a specific value. If a match is found, that block executes. Use break to exit the switch after a match. If no case matches, the default block (optional) runs.

This is useful when comparing discrete values like numbers, enums, or strings (Java 7+).

Relational & Logical Operators

These are commonly used in conditionals:

• ==, !=, >, <, >=, <=
• && (AND), || (OR), ! (NOT)

Practice Question

What will this print?

Hint: Both conditions are true, so the if block runs.

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