A condition is something that is either true or false.
number = 5
If we've set the variable number to 5, then clearly this condition is true, but if we set number to 6, then it must be false.
Here's another example.
name$ = "bilbo"
This condition would be false if we had set the variable name$ to "gandalf".
In the real world, Axbasic scripts spend most of their time testing conditions to see whether they're true or false.
In order to test a condition, we use an IF statement.
IF number = 5 ...
IF name$ = "bilbo" ...
Having decided whether the condition is true, or not, we need to decide what to do next. For that, we add the keyword THEN.
IF number = 5 THEN ...
IF name$ = "bilbo" THEN ...
THEN can be followed by any statement you like. You could add a PRINT statement, for example.
IF number = 5 THEN PRINT "True!"
IF number = 6 THEN PRINT "False!"
Instead of PRINTing something, you could set the value of a variable. The variable is only set when the condition is true.
IF number = 5 THEN LET result$ = "True!"
PRINT result$
Earlier we say that statements can be joined together with a colon character.
PRINT "Ready" : PRINT "Steady" : PRINT "Go"
After THEN, we can add a single statement, or more than one, if that's more convenient.
IF number = 10 THEN PRINT "Ready" : PRINT "Steady" : PRINT "Go"
The three PRINT statements are only executed if number really is set to 10.
A really useful feature of Axbasic is the keyword ELSE.
IF number = 5 THEN do something ELSE do something
This time you can add two statements. One is executed if the condition is true, and the other is executed if the condition is false.
IF number = 5 THEN PRINT "True!" ELSE PRINT "False!"
Often you'll set a variable to one of two values, depending on whether the condition is true, or not.
IF number = 5 THEN LET result$ = "True!" ELSE LET result$ = "False!"
PRINT result$
IF statements can quickly become very long, so it's useful to split them across several lines. Let's take a simple example.
IF number = 5 THEN
PRINT "True!"
END IF
If the condition is true, every line between THEN and END IF is executed. You can add as many lines as you like.
IF number = 5 THEN
PRINT "True!"
PRINT "It's not false!"
PRINT "I'm sure about this!"
END IF
If the condition is false, none of the lines between THEN and END IF are executed.
ELSE can also be used in this situation.
IF number = 5 THEN
PRINT "True!"
ELSE
PRINT "False!"
END IF
Once again, you can add as many lines as you like.
IF number = 5 THEN
PRINT "True!"
PRINT "It's not false!"
ELSE
PRINT "False!"
PRINT "It's not true!"
END IF
At this point, it's traditional for a programming tutorial to introduce a simple guessing game, so let's go ahead and do that.
PRINT "Guess my name!"
INPUT name$
IF name$ = "bilbo" THEN
PRINT "Yes, my name is Bilbo!"
ELSE
PRINT "No, my name is Bilbo!"
END IF
END
That works very well for a simple yes/no game, but what about something (slightly) more challenging?
In that situation, we can use ELSE IF.
PRINT "Guess my name!"
INPUT name$
IF name$ = "bilbo" THEN
PRINT "Yes, my name is Bilbo!"
ELSE IF name$ = "gandalf" THEN
PRINT "Don't be silly, Gandalf is YOUR name."
ELSE
PRINT "Wrong!"
END IF
END
After the first line, there are three PRINT statements; only one of them is executed. You can add as many ELSE IFs as you want, but it's always a good idea to use an ELSE at the end, in case the user types something you didn't expect.
In other words, if the user types "Frodo", the script below won't PRINT anything at all (which is probably not what the author intended).
PRINT "Guess my name!"
INPUT name$
IF name$ = "bilbo" THEN
PRINT "Yes, my name is Bilbo!"
ELSE IF name$ = "gandalf" THEN
PRINT "Don't be silly, Gandalf is your name."
ELSE IF "name$ = "sauron" THEN
PRINT "I don't believe you."
END IF
END
In Axbasic scripts, you can add as much empty space as you like at the beginning of the line, and you can use as many empty lines as you like, too.
These lines are perfectly legal Axbasic:
IF name$ = "bilbo" THEN
PRINT "Yes, my name is Bilbo!"
PRINT "How did you know?"
END IF
But if your script isn't behaving the way you expected, it's a lot easier to find the source of the problem if you've used your TAB key to move everything inside the IF...END IF a little to the right:
IF name$ = "bilbo" THEN
PRINT "Yes, my name is Bilbo!"
PRINT "How did you know?"
END IF
We can put anything we like between an IF and an END IF. We can even put another IF there!
IF surname$ = "baggins" THEN
IF name$ = "bilbo" THEN
PRINT "Hello, Bilbo Baggins!"
ELSE
PRINt "Are you related to Bilbo?"
END IF
END IF
In fact, the author of this script has forgotten to include an ELSE. Something happens regardless of the name$, but if the surname$ isn't the one that was expected, nothing happens at all.
Once we start using a lot of IFs and ELSEs and ELSE IFs and END IF, it becomes even more important to use proper spacing.
IF surname$ = "baggins" THEN
IF name$ = "bilbo" THEN
PRINT "Hello, Bilbo Baggins!"
ELSE
PRINt "Are you related to Bilbo?"
END IF
ELSE
PRINT "You aren't related to Bilbo!"
END IF
We can test two conditions at the same time by using AND.
IF name$ = "bilbo" AND surname$ = "baggins" THEN
PRINT "Hello, Bilbo Baggins!"
END IF
Axbasic checks the first condition. If it's true, Axbasic checks the second condition. If that is also true, then somethins if PRINTed.
The opposite of AND is, of course, OR.
IF name$ = "bilbo" OR name$ = "gandalf" THEN
PRINT "I know you!"
END IF
This time, if either (or both) of the conditions are true, something is PRINTed. If they are both false, nothing is PRINTed.
Suppose you wanted to greet anyone except Bilbo. In that case, you would use NOT.
IF NOT name$ = "bilbo" THEN
PRINT "You are not Bilbo!"
END IF
The keyword NOT goes at the beginning of the condition. If you try to put it somewhere else, as in these examples, you'll get an error.
IF name$ NOT = "bilbo" THEN
IF name$ = NOT "bilbo" THEN
AND, OR and NOT are operators, just like the characters &, +, -, * and /. This means that you can use brackets, if you want to.
IF surname$ = "baggins" AND (name$ = "bilbo" OR name$ = "frodo") THEN
PRINT "Hello!"
END IF
Axbasic checks everything inside the brackets first, so it first checks that name$ is either bilbo or frodo. If so, it then checks that surname$ is baggins.
This is simpler than the equivalent code using IF, ELSE, ELSE IF and END IF.
IF surname$ = "baggins" THEN
IF name$ = "bilbo" THEN
PRINT "Hello!"
ELSE IF name$ = "frodo" THEN
PRINT "Hello!"
END IF
END IF
If you want to check that a number is less than 5, you could use a bunch of ORs.
IF number == 1 OR number == 2 OR number == 3 OR number == 4 THEN
PRINT "Less than 5"
END IF
But a simpler way is to use the less than character <.
IF number < 5 THEN
PRINT "Less than 5"
END IF
The opposite is the more than character, >.
IF number > 5 THEN
PRINT "More than 5"
END IF
Often you'll need to check that a number is between 1 and 5. You can do that using AND.
IF number > 0 AND number < 6 THEN
PRINT "Between 1 and 5"
END IF
Of course, it would be a lot simpler to use the numbers 1 and 5 directly.
For this, you can use the <= operator, which means less than or equal to, or the >= operator, which means more than or equal to.
IF number >= 1 AND number <= 5 THEN
PRINT "Between 1 and 5"
END IF
Finally, we have the <> operator, which means not equal to.
IF number <> 10 THEN
PRINT "Not equal to 10"
END IF
The more than/less than operators can be used on strings, too. If you ask whether word$ is "less than" other_word$, you're actually asking which word appears first in the dictionary.
IF "apple" < "banana" THEN
PRINT "In the dictionary, apple comes before banana"
END IF
There is a hidden danger here. Axbasic, in common with most programming languages, considers that capital letters are less than lower-case letters; in other words, the letter Z is less than the letter a. This can lead to unexpected results, such as in the following script (which you should try for yourself).
IF "apple" < "BANANA" THEN
PRINT "In the dictionary, apple comes before banana"
ELSE
PRINT "In the dictionary, banana comes before apple"
END IF
END
The usual solution is to convert both strings to lower-case before comparing them. We'll cover that in a later Section.
One alternative to endless IF...ELSE IF... statements is SELECT CASE. Let's start with an example.
SELECT CASE dice
CASE 1
PRINT "The lowest number!"
CASE 3, 4
PRINT "Somewhere in the middle!"
CASE 6
PRINT "The highest number!"
CASE ELSE
PRINT "Some other number!"
IF dice = 5 THEN PRINT "It's a five!" ELSE PRINT "It's a two!"
END SELECT
Depending on the value of dice, one or more lines of code are executed. Then, execution skips to the first line after the END SELECT statement.
SELECT CASE was originally intended to improve speed on slow computers. In this modern era, there is little or no speed increase (but the code still looks simpler).
Each CASE statement must contain a literal value - a number or a string. You can't use an expression or a variable.