Editing Dangling else (section)

==Examples==
Concrete examples follow.

===C===
In [[C (programming language)|C]], the grammar reads, in part:
<pre>
 statement = ...
    | selection-statement

 selection-statement = ...
    | IF ( expression ) statement
    | IF ( expression ) statement ELSE statement</pre>

Thus, without further rules, the statement
<syntaxhighlight lang="C">
if (a) if (b) s; else s2;
</syntaxhighlight>
could ambiguously be parsed as if it were either:
<syntaxhighlight lang="C">
if (a)
{
  if (b)
    s;
  else
    s2;
}
</syntaxhighlight>
or:
<syntaxhighlight lang="C">
if (a)
{
  if (b)
    s;
}
else
  s2;
</syntaxhighlight>
The C standard clarifies that an <code>else</code> block is associated with the nearest <code>if</code>.<ref name="c-standard"/> Therefore, the first tree is chosen.