Question

Why doesnt this work?

if (condition) stuff; return;
else otherStuff;

or this

if (condition) stuff; return;
else {otherStuff;}

I can easily fix this with:

if (condition) {stuff; return;}
else otherStuff;

but I thought that the if statement block entire line not excluding return.

Answer 1

Because with:

if (condition) stuff; return;
else otherstuff;

The if conditional has a single statement, stuff.

It’s followed by an unrelated return statement.

The else is stranded on its own, which isn’t legal Java.

Semicolons are statement terminators, not EOLs. In order for a statement to be a block, it must be surrounded by {}, otherwise the statement ends at the ;.