The else statement is a crucial element in controlling the program flow. It complements the if statement by allowing a program to take different actions depending on whether a given condition is true or false. Essentially, it enables the program to choose between two alternative paths.

If the condition is false, the code inside the first block (the one following if) is skipped, and the code inside the second block (the one following else) is executed.

Let's examine the provided code. When executed, it appears to be functioning as expected. Since the variable x is less than 10, the output correctly states: X is not greater than 10.

But try to modify the value of a variable x to a number greater than 10, and then execute the provided code snippet once more. As you can see there are two distinct messages: one indicating that X is greater than 10, and the other specifying that X is not greater than 10.

The key thing to understand is that the second std::cout statement is not part of the if block, it is always be executed unconditionally after the if block resulting in both messages being printed. Of course this has to be fixed and this issue can be resolved by using an else keyword, like this:

Now everything works as expected and only one of two instructions will be executed depending on the value of the x.

Note

The else keyword can be followed by any statement, including another if block, and this chain can be extended as necessary, but it's important not to overuse this construct because it can make it challenging to comprehend the program's flow.