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 title: Elseless
 date: 2026-01-04 15:21:00
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Here's a little "cognitive complexity" tip for your next
programming project: get rid of your else statements.

Okay... maybe not all of them. But as many as you can, because
unnecessary else statements can decrease the readability of your
code in small, but often very meaningful, ways.

This isn't a hard-and-fast rule—which was made abundantly clear
when I posted this on LinkedIn [0] and triggered a small flame
war—but when I write my own code, I tend to keep the following
guidelines in mind to keep else-driven cognitive complexity down:

## Return or raise early?

If returning or raising from within an if block, you can often drop
the else and unindent the remainder.

#### Before

```python
def process(value):
    if value is None:
        raise ValueError("value cannot be None")
    else:
        return value * 2
```

#### After

```python
def process(value):
    if value is None:
        raise ValueError("value cannot be None")

    return value * 2
```

## Continue/break inside loops?

Similar to the above rule, if you continue or break inside an if,
you can often skip the else and put the “keep” logic after the
guard.

#### Before

```python
for item in items:
    if not is_valid(item):
        continue
    else:
      process(item)
```

#### After

```python
for item in items:
    if not is_valid(item):
        continue

    process(item)
```

## Assign defaults first

An old "C" programming language convention: assign defaults first.
When you do that, you can often avoid else statements entirely.

#### Before

```python
def get_status(user):
    if user.is_active:
        status = "active"
    else:
        status = "inactive"

    return status
```

#### After

```python
def get_status(user):
    status = "inactive"

    if user.is_active:
        status = "active"

    return status
```

Or, an even cleaner version, dropping the intermediate variable and
using a guard clause:

```python
def get_status(user):
    if user.is_active:
        return "active"

    return "inactive"
```

## Guard clauses for invalid/edge cases?

If you have multiple branches to handle edge cases, consider using
guard clauses to handle them first so the main path of your
function is clear. What's a "guard clause"? It's just an if
statement that returns or raises early.

#### Before

```python
def calculate_discount(price, customer):
    if customer.is_vip:
        return price * 0.8
    else:
        if customer.is_loyal:
            return price * 0.9
        else:
            return price
```

#### After

```python
def calculate_discount(price, customer):
    if customer.is_vip:
        return price * 0.8

    if customer.is_loyal:
        return price * 0.9

    return price
```

## Nested if/else causing indentation creep?

More indentation means more cognitive load. If you find yourself
with nested if/else statements, see if you can convert inner
branches to guard returns/raises and unwrap.

#### Before

```python
def process_order(order):
    if order.is_valid():
        if order.is_in_stock():
            if order.payment_received():
                if order.ship():
                    return "Order shipped"
                else:
                    return "Shipping failed"
            else:
                return "Payment not received"
        else:
            return "Out of stock"
    else:
        return "Invalid order"
```

#### After

```python
def process_order(order):
    if not order.is_valid():
        return "Invalid order"

    if not order.is_in_stock():
        return "Out of stock"

    if not order.payment_received():
        return "Payment not received"

    if order.ship():
        return "Order shipped"
    else:
        return "Shipping failed"
```

## Both branches return the same type/value shape?

Sometimes both branches of an if/else return the same type or shape
of value. In those cases, I prefer two returns over a `return` and
`else`.

#### Before

```python
def get_user_status(user):
    if user.is_active:
        return "active"
    else:
        return "inactive"
```

#### After

```python
def get_user_status(user):
    if user.is_active:
        return "active"

    return "inactive"
```

---
[0]: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zachflower_coding-development-softwaredevelopment-activity-7408885383658344448-3mp5
---


EOF