The following syntax works perfectly fine in PHP:

```
if($data = check_database($conds)) var_dump($data);
else echo "Not found";

```

However, in Javascript, I can't find an equivalent shorthand:

```
/*THIS CREATES A GLOBAL VARIABLE:*/
if(data = check_database(conds)) console.log(data);
else console.log("Not found.");

/*THIS RESULTS IN A SYNTAX ERROR (unexpected token var):*/
if(var data = check_database(conds)) console.log(data);
else console.log("Not found.");

```

Is there a way for me to declare a locally-scoped var in Javascript within the `if` (and other) statement(s). *NOTE: This is not a problem for the `for` statement which expects complete statements as arguments.*

Ultimately, I want to avoid the following verbose syntax:

```
/*THIS HAS THE DESIRED EFFECT, BUT UNDESIRED (VERBOSE) SYNTAX*/
var data;
if(data = check_database(conds)) console.log(data);
else console.log("Not found.");

```