else
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    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.