Lecture # 6

Conditional
Structures
 Control Structures in C++
• Control structures control the flow of execution
in a program or function.
• There are four kinds of execution flow:
Sequence
• the execution of the program is sequential.
Selection:
• A control structure which chooses alternative to execute.
Repetition:
• A control structure which repeats a group of statements.
Function call :
• A type of statement that moves the control to another block
of code
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Conditions
• A program may choose among alternative
statements by testing the value of key variables.
– e.g., if( your_grade > 60 )
cout<< “you are passed!”;
• Condition is an expression that is either false
(represented by 0) or true (represented by 1).
– e.g., “your_grade > 60” is a condition.
• Conditions may contain relational or equality
operators, and have the following forms.
– variable relational-operator variable (or constant)
– variable equality-operator variable (or constant)
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Relational Operators

• The relational operators are used to specify

conditions in programs.
• A relational operator compares two values.
• Produces results as true and false.
• Also called as conditional operators or
comparison operators as they test conditions that
is either true or false.

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Operators Used in Conditions

Operator Meaning Type

< Less than Relational
> Greater than Relational
<= Less than or equal to Relational
>= Greater than or equal to Relational
== Equal to Equality
!= Not equal to Equality

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Examples of Conditions

Operator Condition Meaning

<= x <= 0 x less than or equal
to 0
< Power < MAX_POW Power less than
MAX_POW
== mom_or_dad == ‘M’ mom_or_dad
equal to ‘M’
!= 5!=5 5 not equal to 5

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Comparing Characters
• We can also compare characters in C using the
relational and equality operators.
Expression Value

‘9’ >= ‘0’ 1 (true)

‘a’ < ‘e’ 1 (true)

‘Z’ == ‘z’ 0 (false)

‘a’ <= ‘A’ system dependent

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‘if’ Statement
• It is decision making statement.
• if is a keyword in C++ language.
• Used to execute a statement or set of statements
by checking a condition.
• Condition is given as a relational expression.
• If the condition is true, the statement or set of
statements after if statement is executed.
• If the condition is false, the statement or set of
statements after if statement is not executed.
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if statement (continue)
• The syntax of if statement is as follows:
 if (condition)
statement;
 if (condition)
{
statement 1;
statement 1;
….
statement n;
} 4-9
The if – else Statement
• The if statement is the primary selection control
structure.
• Syntax: if (condition) statement;
else statement;
• An example of two alternatives:
if ( rest_heart_rate > 56 )
cout<<“Keep up your exercise program!\n”;
else
cout<<“Your heart is in excellent health!\n”;
• An example of one alternative:
if ( x != 0.0 )
product = product * x;
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Flowchart

• Flowchart is a diagram that shows the step-by-

step execution of a control structure.
– A diamond-shaped box represents a decision.
– A rectangular box represents an assignment
statement or a process.

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Flowcharts of if Statements with (a) Two
Alternatives and (b) One Alternative

Decision Decision

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Limitation of simple ‘if’ statements
• If statement is the simplest selection structure
but it is very limited in its use.
• The statement or set of statements are executed
if the condition is true.
• But if the condition is false then nothing
happens.
• Example: a program should display ‘PASS’ if the
student gets 40 or more marks. It should display
‘fail’ if the student gets less than 40 marks.
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Compound condition
• A type of condition in which more than one
condition are evaluated is called compound
condition.
• Used to execute a statement or set of statements
by testing many conditions.
• Example : a program input two numbers and
displays OK if one number is greater than 100
and second number is less than 100.
• Compound condition is executed by using
logical operators
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Logical Operators

• There are three kinds of logical operators.

– &&: and
– ||: or
– !: not
• Logical expression is an expression which uses
one or more logical operators, e.g.,
– (temperature > 90.0 && humidity > 0.90)
– !(n <= 0 || n >= 100).

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The Truth Table of Logical Operators
Op 1 Op 2 Op 1 && Op2 Op 1 || Op2
nonzero nonzero 1 1
nonzero 0 0 1
0 nonzero 0 1
0 0 0 0

Op 1 ! Op 1
nonzero 0
0 1
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Nested if Statements
• Nested if statement is an if statement with
another if statement as its true task or false
task.
• e.g.,
if (road_status == ‘S’)
if (temp > 0) {
printf(“Wet roads ahead!\n”);
}else{
printf(“Icy roads ahead!\n”);
}
else
printf(“Drive carefully!\n”);
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An Example for the Flowchart of
Nested if Statements
Another if statement

Main if statement
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Multiple-Alternative Decisions
• If there are many alternatives, it is better to use the
syntax of multiple-alternative decision.
• Syntax:
if (condition1)
statement1
else if (condition2)
statement2
…
else if (conditionn)
statementn
else
statemente
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An Example of Multiple-Alternative
Decisions

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The switch Statement
• The switch statement is used to select one of several
alternatives when the selection is based on the value of
a single variable or an expression.
switch (controlling expression) {
case label1:
If the result of this controlling
statement1
break; expression matches label1, execute
case label2: staement1 and then break this switch
statement2 block.
break;
…
case labeln:
statementn
break; If the result matches none of all
default: labels, execute the default statementd.
statementd;
}
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An Example of a switch Statement
with Type char Case Labels
class is a char variable.

Two or more cases can execute

the same statement.

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