Concise if-then-else notation in do-blocks in Haskell

Question

I cannot figure out how to make the concise if-then-else notation work, mentioned at [ http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/haskell-prime/wiki/DoAndIfThenElse ]. This works,

import System.Environment
main = do
    args <- getArgs
    if (args !! 0) == "hello"
        then
            print "hello"
        else
            print "goodbye"

but this does not, and inserting said semicolons (see link) just result in parse errors for me.

import System.Environment
main = do
    args <- getArgs
    if (args !! 0) == "hello" then
        print "hello"
    else
        print "goodbye"

Answer 1

In Haskell 98 “if … then … else …” is a single expression. If it’s split to multiple lines, the ones following the first one must be indented further.

Just like the following is wrong…

do
  1 +
  2

…and the following works…

do
  1 +
    2

…the following is also wrong…

do
  if True then 1
  else 2

…and the following works.

do
  if True then 1
    else 2

As the other comments already mention, Haskell 2010 allows the “then” and “else” parts on the same level of indentation as the “if” part.

Answer 2

Haskell syntax and language are extended though {-# LANGUAGE ... #-} pragmas at the start of the source files. The DoAndIfThenElse extension is recognized since it is one of those listed in the Cabal documentation. Current GHC enables this by default.

Answer 3

The link you provided describes a proposal, which sounds like it is not part of the Haskell standard (although the link mentions that it's implemented in jhc, GHC and Hugs). It's possible that the version of the Haskell compiler you're using, or the set of flags you're using, does not allow for the optional-semicolon behavior described in the link.

Try this:

import System.Environment
main = do
    args <- getArgs
    if (args !! 0) == "hello" then
        print "hello"
        else
            print "goodbye"

Answer 4

I usually indent the else one space more than the if. Unless then whole if fits nicely on a single line.