... elseif , as its name suggests, is a combination of if and else . Like else , it extends an if statement to execute a different statement in case the original if expression evaluates to FALSE . However, unlike else , it will execute that alternative expression only if the elseif conditional expression evaluates to TRUE . ... if ($a > $b) { print "a is bigger than b"; } elseif ($a == $b) { print "a is equal to b"; } else { print "a is smaller than b"; } . ... else . ...