else without if error is mostly faced by the java beginners. As the name suggests java compiler is unable to find an if statement associated with your else statement. else statements do not execute unless they are associated with the if statement. As always, first, we will produce the error before moving on to the solution.

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[Fixed] error: 'else' without 'if'

Example 1: Producing the error by ending if statement with a semi-colon


public class ElseWithoutIf {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int input = 79;        
        if(input > 100); 
        { 
          System.out.println("input is greater than 100");
        }
        else 
        {
          System.out.println("input is less than or equal to 100");
        }
    }
}

Output:
/ElseWithoutIf.java:8: error: 'else' without 'if'
   else {
   ^
1 error

Explanation:

The statement if(input > 100); is equivalent to writing
if (input > 100)
{
}
i.e. input is greater than 100 then execute an empty block. There is no else block for this. As a result, the next line else block does not have a corresponding if block, thus, produces the error: else without if.

Solution:

The above compilation error can be resolved by removing the semicolon.

public class ElseWithoutIf {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int input = 79;        
        if(input > 100)
        {
          System.out.println("input is greater than 100");
        }
        else 
        {
          System.out.println("input is less than or equal to 100");
        }
    }
}

Output:
input is less than or equal to 100

Example 2: Producing the error by missing the closing bracket in if condition

Just like the above example, we will produce the error first before moving on to the solution.

public class ElseWithoutIf2 {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int input = 89;        
        if(input > 100) 
        { 
          System.out.println("inside if");        
                    
        else 
        {
            System.out.println("inside else");
        }
    }
}

Output:
/ElseWithoutIf2.java:8: error: 'else' without 'if'
   else
   ^

Explanation:

In the above example, if condition closing bracket is missing, hence, we are getting the else without if error.

Solution:

The above compilation error can be resolved by inserting the missing closing bracket as shown below.

public class ElseWithoutIf2 {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int input = 89;        
        if(input > 100) 
        { 
          System.out.println("inside if");       
        }
        else 
        {
            System.out.println("inside else");
        }
    }
}

Output:
inside else

Example 3: Producing the error by having more than one else clause for an if statement


public class ElseWithoutIf3 {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int input = 99;        
        if(input > 100)
        {
          System.out.println("input is greater than 100");
        }        
        else
        {
          System.out.println("input is less than 100");
        }
        else
        {
            System.out.println("100");
        }
    }
}

Output:
/ElseWithoutIf3.java:12: error: 'else' without 'if'
   else
   ^
1 error

Explanation:

In the above scenario, you are chaining the two elses together that is not correct syntax, hence, resulting in the error. The correct syntax is given below:

if(condition) 
{
   //do A;
}
else if(condition)
{
   //do B;
}
else
{
   //do C;
}

Solution:

The above compilation error can be resolved by providing correct if-elseif-else syntax as shown below.

public class ElseWithoutIf3 {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int input = 99;        
        if(input > 100)
        {
          System.out.println("input is greater than 100");
        }        
        else if (input < 100)
        {
          System.out.println("input is less than 100");
        }
        else
        {
            System.out.println("100");
        }
    }
}

Output:
input is less than 100

The best way to deal with error: 'else' without 'if' is always to use curly braces to show what is executed after if. Learn to indent the code too as it helps in reading and understanding.