Control Structures in Java
1. conditional statements in Java
Use if to specify a block of code to be executed, if a specified condition is true
Use else to specify a block of code to be executed, if the same condition is false
Use else if to specify a new condition to test, if the first condition is false
Use switch to specify many alternative blocks of code to be executed
if Statement
Use the if statement to specify a block of Java code to be executed if a condition is true.
Syntax:
if (condition) {
// block of code to be executed if the condition is true
}
else Statement
Use the else statement to specify a block of code to be executed if the condition is false.
Syntax:
if (condition) {
// block of code to be executed if the condition is true
} else {
// block of code to be executed if the condition is false
}
else if Statement
Use the else if statement to specify a new condition if the first condition is false.
Syntax:
if (condition1) {
// block of code to be executed if condition1 is true
} else if (condition2) {
// block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and condition2 is true
} else {
// block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and condition2 is false
}
Short Hand If...Else (Ternary Operator)
There is also a short-hand if else, which is known as the ternary operator because it consists of three operands.
It can be used to replace multiple lines of code with a single line, and is most often used to replace simple if else
statements:
Syntax:
variable = (condition) ? expressionTrue : expressionFalse;
Example
int time = 20;
String result = (time < 18) ? "Good day." : "Good evening.";
System.out.println(result);
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Switch Statements
Instead of writing many if..else statements, you can use the switch statement.
The switch statement selects one of many code blocks to be executed:
Syntax:
switch(expression) {
case x:
// code block
break;
case y:
// code block
break;
default:
// code block
}
The switch expression is evaluated once.
The value of the expression is compared with the values of each case.
If there is a match, the associated block of code is executed.
The break and default keywords are optional, and will be described later in this chapter
break Keyword
When Java reaches a break keyword, it breaks out of the switch block.
This will stop the execution of more code and case testing inside the block.
2. Loop statements in Java
Loops can execute a block of code as long as a specified condition is reached.
while Loop
do/while Loop
while Loop
The while loop loops through a block of code as long as a specified condition is true:
Syntax:
while (condition) {
// code block to be executed
}
Example:
int i = 0;
while (i < 5) {
System.out.println(i);
i++;
}
do/while Loop
The do/while loop is a variant of the while loop. This loop will execute the code block once, before checking if the
condition is true, then it will repeat the loop as long as the condition is true.
Syntax:
do {
// code block to be executed
}
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while (condition);
Example:
int i = 0;
do {
System.out.println(i);
i++;
}
while (i < 5);
for Loop
When you know exactly how many times you want to loop through a block of code, use the for loop instead of
a while loop:
Syntax:
for (statement 1; statement 2; statement 3) {
// code block to be executed
}
Statement 1 is executed (one time) before the execution of the code block.
Statement 2 defines the condition for executing the code block.
Statement 3 is executed (every time) after the code block has been executed.
Example:
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
System.out.println(i);
}
for-each Loop
There is also a "for-each" loop, which is used exclusively to loop through elements in an array:
Syntax:
for (type variableName : arrayName) {
// code block to be executed
}
Example:
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};
for (String i : cars) {
System.out.println(i);
}
Java Arrays
Arrays are used to store multiple values in a single variable, instead of declaring separate variables for each value.
To declare an array, define the variable type with square brackets:
String[] cars;
String[] cars = {"Volvo", "BMW", "Ford", "Mazda"};
int[] myNum = {10, 20, 30, 40};
Access the Elements of an Array
You can access an array element by referring to the index number.
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Array Length
To find out how many elements an array has, use the length property:
Java Break statement
The break statement can also be used to jump out of a loop.
Example:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
if (i == 4) {
break;
}
System.out.println(i);
}
Java Continue statement
The continue statement breaks one iteration (in the loop), if a specified condition occurs, and continues with the
next iteration in the loop.
Example
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
if (i == 4) {
continue;
}
System.out.println(i);
}
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