To execute a block of code several number of times you would need Control structures. Groovy supports the usual
- Conditional statements:
if-else, "nested" if then else if, switch, try-catch-finally
- Looping statements:
for, for
-eachin, while loop
, do while loop - Branching statements:
break, continue, return
Conditional statements
Conditional statements execute a set of statements only if the condition is true
if
The if
executes the statements if the condition is true
.The notable specialty of if
in Groovy: it plays well with the optional return
statement. If your last expression of a method or closure is an if statement, then it is evaluated like an expression.
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//Simple if if(..x==2){ (...)false } //Simple if else if(..x == 2){ x = x + (...)2 } else{ x = x - (...)2 } //Nested if if (...x) { x = x + ...1 } else if (...y) { ...y = y + 1 } else { 0 } //Assign and test in nested expression if ((x = 3)) { return true } //Optional return statement def sysName = "Windows" if (sysName... }contains("Windows")) "We're on Windows." else "Oh, well we are on Mac" |
Switch statement -
The switch statement executes one statement from multiple conditions. It is like if-else-if
ladder statement. The switch statement in Groovy can handle any kind of switch value and different kinds of matching can be performed.
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def xa = 1.23 def resultlog = "" switch ( x a) { case 0 : log case+= "foo0": //|#1 fall case 1 : log result += "found foo1" // lets fall|#1 through case 2 : log case+= "bar2":; break default : log += 'default' } resultlog +== "bar" case [4, 5, 6, 'inList']: result = "list" break default: result = "default" } |
In Groovy it is backward compatible with Java code, one difference though is that the Groovy switch statement can handle any kind of switch value and different kinds of matching can be performed.
...
12" |
try-catch-finally
Exception handling is required in any programming language to handle the runtime errors so that normal flow of the application can be maintained. You can specify a complete try-catch-finally
sequence of blocks, or just try-catch
, or just try-finally
to handle them. Braces are required around the block bodies whether or not they contain more than one statement.
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def myMethod() {
throw new IllegalArgumentException()
}
def log = []
try {
myMethod()
} catch (Exception e) {
log << e.toString()
} finally {
log << "finally"
}
log.size() == 2 |
Looping statements
Looping repeats the execution of a block of code multiple times. The loops available in Groovy are covered below.
while loop
In a while loop the boolean test is evaluated, and if it's true, the body of the loop is then executed.
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def list = [1, 2, 3]
while (list){
list.remove(0)
}
list |
Note: There is no do-while loop in Groovy
for/for-in loop
for / for-in loop is used to iterate a part of the program several times. If the number of iteration is fixed, it is recommended to use for loop. In Groovy the for loop is much simpler and works with any kind of array, collection, Map, etc.
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// Normal for loop for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) { i; } // iterate over a range def x = 0 for ( i in 0..9 ) { x += i } x == 45 // iterate over an array def array = (0..4).toArray() x = 0 for ( i in array ) { x += i } x == 10 //iterate over a list def x = 0 def list = [10,12,13,14]; for(j in list){ x += j; } x == 49 //iterate over a map def x = 0 def customers = [ 0 : "David", 1 : "Elle", 2 : "Peaches" ]; for(cust in customers){ x += cust.key } x == 3 //iterate over values of a Map def x = "" def customers = [ 0 : "David", 1 : "Elle", 2 : "Peaches" ]; for(cust in customers){ x += cust.value x += "," } x == "David,Elle,Peaches" // iterate over the characters in a string def text = "abc" def list = [] for (c in text) { list.add(c) } list == ["a", "b", "c"] |
Branching statements
Break statementfor each -
The break statement is used to alter the flow of control inside loops and switch statements, explained above.
Continue statement
The continue statement complements the break statement. Its use is restricted to while and for loops, explained above.
Return statement
The last line of a method in Groovy is automatically the return statement. For this reason, an explicit return statement can be left out.