Conditional Statement Syntax

Conditional Statement Syntax

Remember when we showed you that whitespace in Python is significant? If not, write this down: whitespace in Python is significant. In Python, whitespace (tabs or spaces) does this work for us.

Here's an example of if statement syntax in Python:

if 8 < 9:
    print "Eight is less than nine!"

if is always followed by an expression, which is followed by a colon (:). The code block (the code to be executed if the expression evaluates to True) is indentedfour spaces.

This is also true for elif and else(which we'll get to in a moment). The full syntax would look something like this:

if 8 < 9:
    print "I get printed!"
elif 8 > 9:
    print "I don't get printed."
else:
    print "I also don't get printed!"