# V6086. Suspicious code formatting. 'else' keyword is probably missing.

The analyzer has detected a code fragment with an 'if' statement starting on the same line with the closing brace of the previous 'if' statement. The 'else' keyword is probably missing between the two 'if' statements, which makes the program work differently from what was expected.

Consider the following example:

    public void fillTrialMessage(User user, Response response)
    {
      if (user.getTrialTime() > 7) {
        // Do not set message
      } if (user.getTrialTime() > 0) {                // <=
        response.setTrialMessage("Trial ends soon");
      } else {
        response.setTrialMessage("Trial has ended");
      }
    }

The developer's intention here was to have the response message filled only when the trial version of the program is expiring soon or has already expired. However, because of the missing 'else' keyword, the message will be shown when there are still several months left before the end of the trial period. This is what the fixed version looks like:

    public void fillTrialMessage(User user, Response response)
    {
      if (user.getTrialTime() > 7) {
        // Do not set message
      } else if (user.getTrialTime() > 0) {
        response.setTrialMessage("Trial ends soon");
      } else {
        response.setTrialMessage("Trial has ended");
      }
    }

If the developer never meant to use an else-if construct, the formatting should be fixed by moving the second 'if' statement to the next line:

    public void doSomething()
    {
      if (condition1) {
        foo();
      }

      if (condition2) {
        bar();
      } else {
        baz();
      }
    }

This style is more familiar to most programmers and will not provoke unnecessary suspicions. Besides, adhering to it will stop the analyzer from issuing an extra warning.

This diagnostic is classified as:

CWE-670

You can look at examples of errors detected by the V6086 diagnostic.