when using open and close brackets and when not [closed] - php

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I saw this piece of code which does not use a bracket or : before the if/else statement. I thought that every statement should start with { or :
What is the reason they do not use it here?
if (!$this->Article)
throw NotFoundException('Article');
// Set required permission.
$UserModel = new UserModel();
if ($this->Article->Status != ArticleModel::STATUS_PUBLISHED)
if (($this->Article->AttributionUserID == Gdn::Session()->UserID)
&& !$UserModel->CheckPermission($this->Article->AttributionUserID, 'Articles.Articles.Edit')
)
$this->Permission('Articles.Articles.View');
else
$this->Permission('Articles.Articles.Edit');
else
$this->Permission('Articles.Articles.View');

Answer 1

Please don't forget the edge case on calculating your code coverage with phpunit:
<?php
// Because it is "line based" and not statement base coverage
// one line will always have one coverage status
if (false) this_function_call_shows_up_as_covered();
// Due to how code coverage works internally these two lines are special.
// This line will show up as non executable
if (false)
// This line will show up as covered because it is actually the
// coverage of the if statement in the line above that gets shown here!
will_also_show_up_as_coveraged();
// To avoid this it is necessary that braces are used
if (false) {
this_call_will_never_show_up_as_covered();
}
?>
See https://phpunit.de/manual/current/en/code-coverage-analysis.html#code-coverage-analysis.edge-cases for more information.
Imo this is one reason why it is best practice to use always brackets, an other is, debugging such code you give as example is very annoying.

Answer 2

You use brackets to indicate to the interpreter where the if statement starts and stops. However, when the if statement only consists of one line, the brackets can be omitted and the interpreter conditionally executes (or not) the next line.
Whether or not this is a good practice is debatable.

Answer 3

If you have 2 or more operators in if statement always use brackets. If one operator, you can skip them.
But i suggest to always use brackets.

Answer 4

If the code that must to run in case the if statement returns true will have just a single line, you do not need the brackets. brackets in if statement are required just in case of more than one row of code inside it.

Answer 5

if the code between the "if" statement consists of one line you can get rid of bracket "{" but if the code of the "if" statement is consists of more than line you must use it

Answer 6

You can avoid the brackets when there is only one sentence to execute, or there is only one control statement... in this code:
if (!$this->Article)
throw NotFoundException('Article'); //Only one sentence
// Set required permission.
$UserModel = new UserModel();
if ($this->Article->Status != ArticleModel::STATUS_PUBLISHED)
//Insde there is only one if/else
if (($this->Article->AttributionUserID == Gdn::Session()->UserID)
&& !$UserModel->CheckPermission($this->Article->AttributionUserID, 'Articles.Articles.Edit')
)
//Inside there is only one sentence
$this->Permission('Articles.Articles.View');
else
//Else statement contains only one sentence
$this->Permission('Articles.Articles.Edit');
else
//Else statement contains only one sentence
$this->Permission('Articles.Articles.View');
In the first example if you want to execute 2 sentences, it must be enclosed in brackets like this:
if (!$this->Article)
{
$foo = true;
throw NotFoundException('Article');
}
Regards