elif

Conditional else-if construct in shell scripts

TLDR

Use elif in bash script

$ if [condition1]; then echo "first"; elif [condition2]; then echo "second"; fi

Multiple elif conditions

$ if [ $x -lt 0 ]; then echo "negative"; elif [ $x -eq 0 ]; then echo "zero"; elif [ $x -gt 0 ]; then echo "positive"; fi

Branch on a command's exit status rather than a test

$ if command -v nvim; then echo "nvim"; elif command -v vim; then echo "vim"; else echo "none"; fi

SYNOPSIS

if condition; then commands; elif condition; then commands; fi

elif is a shell keyword used in bash and other POSIX shells for conditional branching. It's short for "else if" and allows multiple conditions to be tested sequentially.elif follows an if statement and precedes then. Multiple elif blocks can appear before an optional else. Only the first matching condition's block executes.This construct is fundamental to shell scripting for implementing multi-way branching logic.

CAVEATS

elif is a shell reserved word, not a program, so `which elif` finds nothing and it cannot be used outside an if block. Each elif needs its own then, and the whole chain still ends with a single fi. Inside `[ ... ]` every token must be separated by spaces: `[$x -eq 1]` is a syntax error. The condition is a command list, so it branches on the exit status, and any command works there, not just test.

HISTORY

elif is part of POSIX shell syntax, inherited from the Bourne shell created by Stephen Bourne at Bell Labs in the 1970s. It provides cleaner syntax than nested if-else blocks.