Batch - If, ElseIf, Else

Question

Whats wrong with this code?

IF "%language%" == "de" (
    goto languageDE
) ELSE (
    IF "%language%" == "en" (
    goto languageEN
) ELSE (
    echo Not found.
)

I'm not really good in Batch..

Answer 1

@echo off
title Test

echo Select a language. (de/en)
set /p language=

IF /i "%language%"=="de" goto languageDE
IF /i "%language%"=="en" goto languageEN

echo Not found.
goto commonexit

:languageDE
echo German
goto commonexit

:languageEN
echo English
goto commonexit

:commonexit
pause

The point is that batch simply continues through instructions, line by line until it reaches a goto, exit or end-of-file. It has no concept of sections to control flow.

Hence, entering de would jump to :languagede then simply continue executing instructions until the file ends, showing de then en then not found.

Answer 2

@echo off

set "language=de"

IF "%language%" == "de" (
    goto languageDE
) ELSE (
    IF "%language%" == "en" (
        goto languageEN
    ) ELSE (
        echo Not found.
    )
)

:languageEN
:languageDE

echo %language%

This works , but not sure how your language variable is defined.Does it have spaces in its definition.

Answer 3

batchfiles perform simple string substitution with variables. so, a simple

goto :language%language%
echo notfound
...

does this without any need for if.