Re: Replacing the "if" statement with an "if" expression which supersedes it

You probably may need to explain how it makes language "more powerful" as
it seemingly duplicates existing "and / or" approach.

Proposed "if expression" may be more argued as "more readable" but it will
anyway bring a number of issues - "if statement" allows multiple
expressions inside (including variables definition) - how do you suggest to
manage this in "if expression"?

So "it won't make language bigger" actually is a bit superficial glance.

On Fri, Jun 26, 2026 at 3:41 AM 'Calimero' via lua-l <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Hello!
>
> I suggest outright replacing Lua's existing "if statement" with an "if
> expression".
> The expression variant would completely supersede the current statement
> variant, keeping exactly the same syntax.
> This does not make the language bigger, but it does make it more powerful.
>
> It would be a fully backwards-compatible change, with the value of the
> expression being simply ignored in existing codebases.
>
> Details:
> - Lack of an "else" branch would simply mean the value to be "nil" if no
> condition is true (in if or elseif branches).
> - This drags along with it the idea that a block of statements evaluates
> to the value of its latest statement (possibly nil, if no value).
>
>
> Naturally, I have read http://lua-users.org/wiki/TernaryOperator before
> posting this.
>
> I am interested in knowing whether this will be implemented, or failing
> that, why it won't be!
>
>
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