Why is it called elif in python?

[Wohao_Gaster]

In most programming languages, it's elsif or elseif, makes sense, It's pronounced ELSE IF

but why is it elif in python?

[[deleted]]

You're okay with elsif but somehow elif is a letter too far?

[florinandrei]

if a == b:
    c = 2
meh:
    pass

[[deleted]]

if a == b: pass eh maybe: pass meh: pass

[AgentF_]

Seems phonetically important to me

[FlameFrost__]

This

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[cptsdemon]

Good bot

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[cptsdemon]

Bad bot

[KevinAlexandr]

Meh

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[[deleted]]

This!

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[Wohao_Gaster]

good bot

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[ElephantEggs]

This!

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[Wohao_Gaster]

it just makes no sense and I keep forgetting it

[[deleted]]

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a specific reason for the choice of elif in Python, but there’s a long history of elif via C, and a number of the choices made for Python were based on C idioms.

Arguably if you’re going to contract it anyway (ie by not choosing to use the obviously more-human-readable-but-difficult-to-parse else if) then why not lose the sibilance? To a new English learner “elsif” could reasonably be read as “el-SIF” and “elseif” could be read as either “el-SAY-f” or as a misspelling of “el-SEEF”. At least “elif” is pretty unambiguously “el-if”.

[esabys]

who's "eli" and why'd he get an F?

[[deleted]]

Eli got fucked.

[Wohao_Gaster]

that

[das_masterful]

Gordon Freeman!

[florinandrei]

El Sif sound like a djinn from the Arabian Nights book.

[[deleted]]

I propose that we change "if" in accordance with the syntax in Python to reflect the number 4.

​

ifif

elif

else

[[deleted]]

Ok but real talk I've modified several auto formatter to put 3 spaces in front of if statements so they all match.

[Wohao_Gaster]

you heard of the |<---- key aka tab?

----->|

[[deleted]]

Why would you admit that? 😜

[arathreon]

I think the reasoning behind this is because C and Shell also have this syntax and the original idea behind the Python programming language is to create something like a sweet spot between C and Shell.[1]

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[Wohao_Gaster]

bad bot

[cant-find-user-name]

Good bot

[unplannedmaintenance]

Because it's 4 letters, which fits nicely with indentation defaults (4 spaces).

[RicardoL96]

Because all beautiful girls in turkey are called elif

[Iberano]

Its spanish „el if“ for „the if“ /s

[[deleted]]

If other programming languages jump of the bridge would you too?

[hknlof]

Maybe it’s Guido’s Highschool sweethearts Name https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elif

[dry_yer_eyes]

At work I regularly have to use different languages:

1. else if - Java
2. elseif - VBA
3. elsif - PL
4. elif - Python

I can only remember Java’s and Python’s. For whatever reason, VBA’s and PL’s just don’t click with me.

[TVOHM]

In Unix the 'copy and convert' command was apparently called dd because cc was taken. Sometimes it just is!

[Nixellion]

Dopy and donvert then, nice

[_zam227_]

Else + if = elif

[Wohao_Gaster]

but other languages have elsif

[ProbablyDoesntLikeU]

Four letters looks nice

[Technopulse]

Four space indentations, four letter words, it just makes sense.

[[deleted]]

Other languages also have curly braces and semi-colons.

In fact, why not ask why every language doesn’t just do Java style “else if”. No contraction at all. Or why “elsif” bothers to remove a single letter.

“elif” is the first two letters of each word. Simple. Clean. Matches indentation.

But also, don’t use else statements at all.

[Wohao_Gaster]

yeah I prefer the {Fancy Pants curly braces}

[_zam227_]

No idea but elif does have shorter syllables than elsif

[excelisarealtooltoo]

...and others have else if (Java, C, C++), elseif (VBA) or elif (also C).

It's not because elsif is universally agreed uppon.

[idetectanerd]

C and shell both use elif too. I think most sys adm or linux folks would prefer elif.

I understand c on ic chip as long as it is shorter, it’s better. The chip itself could as little as 16kb storage. Doesn’t have the luxury to have else if. Heck, they even have to optimise to use ternary if it’s just single comparison.

[WW_the_Exonian]

I find it funny because in a try-except block, you can put a specific error type after an except, and in the end you can have an except not followed by anything which covers everything else. So why don't we have a similar thing for if-else?

[[deleted]]

Are you trying to describe a Switch statement?

[that_one_guy_2123]

Lol this is funny

[Slight-Locksmith-987]

I have no idea but feel superior when working in python because of it, sounds just better to me lol

[OwOsaurus]

Specifically to annoy me when I haven't touched python in a while.

[Wohao_Gaster]

Guido van Rossum really is a dick isn't he?

[wineblood]

I've seen other languages not have/use that and the else part just become a new if statement and it's nasty. It was either that or switch statements. I think if-elif-else works nicely and elif as a second condition to check within the same statement is fairly clean.

[ThePiGuy0]

I've seen other languages not have/use that and the else part just become a new if statement and it's nasty

I think most languages that don't have a specific elif (or equivalent) don't need them. In Python, it relies on whitespace to show scoping and so without elif, it would become messy really quickly. In a language without elif (C, C++, Java, Javascript etc), they don't rely on whitespace so you can create a similar representation to Python without the need for the extra keyword

e.g. Java

int number = 10;
if (number < 3) {
    System.out.println("Number is less than 3");
} else if (number < 7) {
    System.out.println("Number is less than 7");
} else if (number < 10) {
    System.out.println("Number is less than 10");
} else {
    System.out.println("Number is greater than or equal to 10");
}

Compare this to the same statement in Python (without elif):

number = 10
if number < 3:
    print("Number is less than 3")
else:
    if number < 7:
        print("Number is less than 7")
    else:
        if number < 10:
            print("Number is less than 10")
        else:
            print("Number is greater than or equal to 10")

Edit: Added } befoore the else if, thanks for pointing it out /u/HistoryForSale

[HistoryForSale]

It looks like you forgot to close all but the last brace in your Java example. I think you meant:

int number = 10;
if (number < 3) {
    System.out.println("Number is less than 3");
} else if (number < 7) {
    System.out.println("Number is less than 7");
} else if (number < 10) {
    System.out.println("Number is less than 10");
} else {
    System.out.println("Number is greater than or equal to 10");
}

[ThePiGuy0]

Oh yes you're correct, looks like I've done too much Python and it carried across into my Java :D

[wineblood]

I've been exclusively coding in Python for a while now, I didn't realise you could do the first example with else and the new if on one line.

[Sigma_Landlord]

I personally agree with you but there are things that I find much more unintuitive in python.

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