else if ladder

Else if ladder is a multi-path decision making statement.It contains many number of conditions but when the compiler founds a certain condition which is to be true then it executes that statement only.

We can say it as a multi-path decision chain of if’s.

Syntax

if( condition1 ) 
{
// condition1 if block
}
else if( condition2 )
{
// condition2 if block
}
else if( condition n)
{
//condition n if block
}
else
{
// else block
}

How else-if ladder works? -

• Compiler first starts to evaluate the conditions from the first statement of the if and then goes executing one by one downwards.
• As soon as the true condition is found, the statement associated with it is executed and the control is transferred to the statement of that block.
• When all conditions of the else-if ladder becomes false, then the final else means default block statement is executed.

Example - Calculating grades of student based on Obtained Marks.

In this example we are displaying the grades of student by accepting throw commandline argument
Assume we are passing 90

class elseIfLadder
{
   public static void  main(String args[])
   {
      int marks = Integer.parseInt(args[0]);
      char grade;
		
      if (marks < 35)
         grade = 'F';
      else if (marks >= 35 && marks <= 49)
	 grade = 'C';
      else if (marks >= 50 && marks <= 60)
	 grade = 'B';
      else if (marks >= 61 && marks <= 100)
	 grade = 'A';
      else
	 grade = 'F';
			
      System.out.println("You got : "+grade);
   }
}

Output