What is the difference between “if” statements with “then” at the end?

Question

What\'s the difference between these two Ruby if statements when we put a then at the end of the if statement?

if(val          


        

Answer 1

The only time that I like to use then on a multi-line if/else (yes, I know it's not required) is when there are multiple conditions for the if, like so:

if some_thing? ||
  (some_other_thing? && this_thing_too?) ||
  or_even_this_thing_right_here?
then
  some_record.do_something_awesome!
end

I find it to be much more readable than either of these (completely valid) options:

if some_thing? || (some_other_thing? && this_thing_too?) || or_even_this_thing_right_here?
  some_record.do_something_awesome!
end

# or

if some_thing? ||
  (some_other_thing? && this_thing_too?) ||
  or_even_this_thing_right_here?
  some_record.do_something_awesome!
end

Because it provides a visual delineation between the condition(s) of the if and the block to execute if the condition(s) evaluates to true.