'if' in prolog?

Question

Is there a way to do an if in prolog, e.g. if a variable is 0, then to do some actions (write text to the terminal). An else isn't even needed, but I can't find any documentation of if.

Answer 1

Yes, there is such a control construct in ISO Prolog, called ->. You use it like this:

( condition -> then_clause ; else_clause )

Here is an example that uses a chain of else-if-clauses:

(   X < 0 ->
    writeln('X is negative.  That's weird!  Failing now.'),
    fail
;   X =:= 0 ->
    writeln('X is zero.')
;   writeln('X is positive.')
)

Note that if you omit the else-clause, the condition failing will mean that the whole if-statement will fail. Therefore, I recommend always including the else-clause (even if it is just true).