Create an if or if..else statement

Some programming languages use if..then statements, but ActionScript uses if..else. It's the same construction. Use if to test for a particular value or case and then branch your response according to the value.

For example, you can test whether a variable is a certain value: if it is, do one thing; if not, do something else. You can also test for more than one value using else if as many times as you want. This statement works for both ActionScript 2 and ActionScript 3.

Test for values equal to 5 or 6; if neither, say so:

var value:Number = 5;

Notice that we need to use == (double equal sign) to test for equality:

if(value == 5) {

   trace("value is 5");

}

else if(value == 6) {

   trace("value is 6");

}

else {

   trace("value is neither 5 nor 6");

}

If you just want to see whether the value is 5 and don't want to do anything else, you can use an if statement alone:

var value:Number = 5;



if(value == 5) {

        trace("value is 5");

}

If the value is 5, the trace statement is executed; otherwise, nothing happens.

Note: You can also use the case..break construction to test for a specific set of values.

Recipe originally contributed by Mike Chambers.
Recipe updated by Dave Jacowitz.