Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi Team,
I need to know why ppl use If true loop instead of just writing down the sequence of code lines.
1:

Code:

echo "Line1"
if true; then
echo "Line2"
fi
echo "Line3"

2:

Code:

echo "Line1"
echo "Line2"
echo "Line3"

Could you explain what does the if true loop make difference in 1st compare to 2nd code?

Regards,
Chandana

I'm not sure what you mean by "if true loop". There is no loop here.

The only time I have seen code like this is during development where true is a placeholder for code to be added later. (But that should never be done without including a comment describing what code needs to be added.)

I have, however, e seen true used as the condition in a while loop to create an obvious infinite loop or a loop where the termination condition occurs in the middle of the loop instead of at the start of the loop or the end of the loop as in:

Code:

echo line1
while true
do      echo line2
        other stuff
        if [ something_failed ]
        then    break
        fi
        more stuff
done
echo line3

It might have been used by the developer for debugging purposes. There might have been a condition there earlier for debugging and now its been replaced by true.

Hi,
Thank you.

I meant to say if true code block, not loop. Sorry.

But your answers explains me, that there is no special meaning to it. but used during development.

Regards,
Chandana