---
title: Avoid if statements as the only statement in else blocks
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
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  Docs > Datadog Security > Code Security > Static Code Analysis (SAST) > SAST
  Rules > Avoid if statements as the only statement in else blocks
---

# Avoid if statements as the only statement in else blocks

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## Metadata{% #metadata %}

**ID:** `javascript-code-style/no-lonely-if`

**Language:** JavaScript

**Severity:** Notice

**Category:** Best Practices

## Description{% #description %}

Prefers `else if` statement instead of an lonely `if` statement. Using `else if` statements` is a cleaner code practice.

## Non-Compliant Code Examples{% #non-compliant-code-examples %}

```javascript
if (a) {;} else { if (b) {;} }

if (a) {
  foo();
} else {
  if (b) {
    bar();
  }
}

if (a) {
  foo();
} else /* comment */ {
  if (b) {
    bar();
  }
}
    
    
if (a) {
  foo();
} else {
  /* otherwise, do the other thing */ if (b) {
    bar();
  }
}
    
if (a) {
  foo();
} else {
  if /* this comment is ok */ (b) {
    bar();
  }
}

if (a) {
  foo();
} else {
  if (b) {
    bar();
  } /* this comment will prevent this test case from being autofixed. */
}
if (foo) {} else { if (bar) baz(); }

// Not fixed; removing the braces would cause a SyntaxError.
if (foo) {} else { if (bar) baz() } qux();

// This is fixed because there is a semicolon after baz().
if (foo) {} else { if (bar) baz(); } qux();

// Not fixed; removing the braces would change the semantics due to ASI.
if (foo) {
} else {
  if (bar) baz()
}
[1, 2, 3].forEach(foo);
    
// Not fixed; removing the braces would change the semantics due to ASI.
if (foo) {
} else {
    if (bar) baz++
}
foo;

// This is fixed because there is a semicolon after baz++
if (foo) {
} else {
  if (bar) baz++;
}
foo;

// Not fixed; bar() would be interpreted as a template literal tag
if (a) {
  foo();
} else {
  if (b) bar()
}
`template literal`;

if (a) {
  foo();
} else {
  if (b) {
    bar();
  } else if (c) {
    baz();
  } else {
    qux();
  }
}
```

## Compliant Code Examples{% #compliant-code-examples %}

```javascript
if (a) {;} else if (b) {;}
if (a) {;} else { if (b) {;} ; }
```
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