Go if

External

• https://go.dev/ref/spec#If_statements

Internal

• Go Language

Overview

The if statement specifies the conditional execution of one, two or more branches according to the value of boolean expressions. Optionally, the boolean expression may be preceded by an initialization statement, which is executed before the expression is evaluated.

The statements to be executed must aways be encoded in braces. Mandatory braces encourage writing simple if statements on multiple lines.

Simple if

if <expression> {
    <statements>
}

if x > 5 {
    println(x)
}

Note that because the lexer automatically inserts a semicolon after each token that may represent the end of statement, if it is followed by newline, we always must provide the opening brace on the same line as the expression.

if/else

if <condition> {
    <statements>
} else {
    <statements>
}

if x > 5 {
    println(x)
} else {
    println("something else")
}

if with Initialization Statement

if accepts an initialization statement before the expression, which is commonly used to set up local variables that are then used in the expression, and are accessible in the entire if statement scope, which includes the subsequent if, else if and else blocks:

if <initialization-statement>; <expression> {
    <statements>
} else if <expression> {
    // variables declared by the initialization statements are visible here
    <statements>
} else <expression> {
    // variables declared by the initialization statements are visible here
    <statements>
}

if a := compute(); a > 0 {
    fmt.Println("positive " + a)
} else {
   fmt.Println("negative " + a)
}

The local variables declared in the initialization statement are only accessible in the expression and the subsequent if blocks.

This syntax supports the Go error handling idiom that relies on functions returning errors as result value:

var result ...
var err error
if result, err = someFunc(); err != nil {
    // handle error
    return
}
// handle success
...

The alternative is:

if result, err := someFunc(); err {
    // handle error
    ...
} else {
    // handle success, result is available in this block
    ...  
}

However, this form is less preferable than the previous one, where the function cleanly exits in the block that handles the error.