else

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- PHP Manual
- Control Structures
- else

## else

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

Often you'd want to execute a statement if a certain condition is met, and a different statement if the condition is not met. This is what `else` is for. `else` extends an `if` statement to execute a statement in case the expression in the `if` statement evaluates to `false`. For example, the following code would display a is greater than b if $a is greater than $b, and a is NOT greater than b otherwise:

    <?phpif ($a > $b) {  echo "a is greater than b";} else {  echo "a is NOT greater than b";}?>

The `else` statement is only executed if the `if` expression evaluated to `false`, and if there were any `elseif` expressions - only if they evaluated to `false` as well (see elseif).

> Note: Dangling else

> In case of nested `if`-`else` statements, an `else` is always associated with the nearest `if`.

>     <?php$a = false;$b = true;if ($a)    if ($b)        echo "b";else    echo "c";?>

> Despite the indentation (which does not matter for PHP), the `else` is associated with the `if ($b)`, so the example does not produce any output. While relying on this behavior is valid, it is recommended to avoid it by using curly braces to resolve potential ambiguities.