if-old

Old syntax:

      if (<condition>) <command-line> [; else if (<condition>) ...; else ...]

Through gnuplot version 4.4, the scope of the if/else commands was limited to a single input line. Now a multi-line clause may be enclosed in curly brackets. The old syntax is still honored but cannot be used inside a bracketed clause.

If no opening "{" follows the if keyword, the command(s) in <command-line> will be executed if <condition> is true (non-zero) or skipped if <condition> is false (zero). Either case will consume commands on the input line until the end of the line or an occurrence of else. Note that use of ; to allow multiple commands on the same line will _not_ end the conditionalized commands.

Examples:

      pi=3
      if (pi!=acos(-1)) print "?Fixing pi!"; pi=acos(-1); print pi

will display:

      ?Fixing pi!
      3.14159265358979

but

      if (1==2) print "Never see this"; print "Or this either"

will not display anything.