title: Do else if statements exist in C#?
body: <p>I have come across the following code in C#.</p>
  
  <pre><code>if(condition0) statement0;
  else if(condition1) statement1;
  else if(condition2) statement2;
  else if(condition3) statement3;
  ...
  else if(conditionN) statementN;
  else lastStatement;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Some of my colleagues tell me that this is an <code>else if</code> statement.  However, I am convinced that it is actually a multi-layered nested <code>if-else</code> statement. I know that without delimiters <code>{}</code>, one statement is allowed in an <code>if</code> or <code>else</code>. So in this case I think it would be equivalent to the following code.</p>
  
  <pre><code>if(condition0) 
    statement0;
  else
    if(condition1)
      statement1;
    else
      if(condition2)
        statement2;
      else
        if(condition3)
          statement3;
        else
        ...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Note that all I changed was the whitespace.
  This indentation works because each <code>else</code> goes back to the most recent <code>if</code> statement when there are no delimiters.</p>
  
  <p>Can anyone clarify if the <code>else if</code> format in the first example is treated differently by the compiler than the nested <code>if-else</code> format in the second example?</p>