VBA: Single line if statement with multiple actions

Question

I really should be able to google this, but I can't find what I wanna know about.

I want to check if a file exists. If not, a MessageBox should pop up and VBA should exit the sub.

If Dir("C:\file.txt", vbDirectory) = "" Then 
    MsgBox "File doesn't exist"
    Exit Sub
End If

It works, I just wanna know if you can you do this in a single line statement? Does VBA allow this when more than one thing is supposed to happen (like it is the case here)? This code doesn't work (syntax error):

If Dir("C:\file.txt", vbDirectory) = "" Then  MsgBox "File doesn't exist" And Exit Sub

Answer 1

You absolutely can!

If Dir("C:\file.txt", vbDirectory) = "" Then  MsgBox "File doesn't exist" : Exit Sub

Answer 2

• The If statement does already support single-line syntax.
  In simple terms this means, we can either have:

  1. If {boolean-expression} Then
        {execution}
     End If
     

  2. If {boolean-expression} Then {execution}
     

     • Note the lack of End If at the second option, as it's fully omitted in single-line syntax
     • Also keep in mind, the execution block can only contain a single statement

---

• Then, further way of concatenating the code together is with the : which acts as a new line ↵ in the compiler.

  This is fairly common practice in variable declaration:

  Dim x As Integer: x = 42
  

---

Now, let's apply those steps together:

1. The original code

   If Dir("C:\file.txt", vbDirectory) = "" Then 
      MsgBox "File doesn't exist"
      Exit Sub
   End If
   

2. Applying the single-line If syntax

   If Dir("C:\file.txt", vbDirectory) = "" Then MsgBox "File Doesn't Exist"
   Exit Sub
   

3. Use the : symbol to put Exit Sub into our single-line If

   If Dir("C:\file.txt", vbDirectory) = "" Then MsgBox "File Doesn't Exist" : Exit Sub