Thread

I ran in to 2 problems with conditionals, the first issue i’ve not yet solved, the second issue is solved but still would like a reasoning behind it so i can understand conditionals a little better.

Problem 1:
A not equal to comparison operator combined with OR doesn’t seem to work (the same works with the equal to “==” comparison operator).
I’m trying the following code, but it doesn’t work, and I can’t find a reason why it shouldn’t work:

{if segment_2 != "url-1" OR segment_2 != "url-2"}
Do not show this content if segment_2 is either url-1 or url-2
{/if}

Taking it apart like this does work, but I prefer them combined to keep it simple:

{if segment_2 != "url-1"}
Do not show this content if segment_2 is url-1
{/if}
{if segment_2 != "url-2"}
Do not show this content if segment_2 is url-2
{/if}

Problem 2:
This one is ‘solved’ but i can’t understand why the first one doesn’t work, is that a parse order issue, there isn’t any info on this on the Conditional Global Variables Docs page.

Why doesn’t this work:

{if segment_3 == "{url_title}"} CONTENT {/if}

But this does:

{if "{url_title}" == segment_3} CONTENT {/if}

I’m unable to be of much use here, but, I’ve sometimes found that a pair of “quotes and curlies” is what’s needed for conditionals to execute properly.

{if "{segment_2}" != "url-1" OR "{segment_2}" != "url-2"}

Thanks Nick,
Unfortunately I had already tried that, no luck either.

Hi Benjamin,

Sometimes using conditionals can be tricky to get right. Re: your first question what you are using is considered an advanced conditional by EE and has implications for both parsing order and potentially speed. See this Excellent PDF by @low for more information on that.

I think that if you change OR to XOR your conditional will then work - according to the docs:

XOR - returns conditional’s contents if either condition is true but not both
OR - returns conditional’s contents if either condition is true

Regarding number 2 - I’m not sure about the answer, but I’ll ask one of our devs about this.

Sean

Thanks Sean,
I had already tried XOR, no luck.

Hrm- the first one is always going to be true.  (I swear- conditionals hurt my head sometimes!)

if a != a or a != b - it will show
if b != a or b != b - it will show
if c != a or c != b - it will show

Are you going for ‘Do not show this content if segment_2 is either url-1 or url-2’?  If so- try

{if segment_3 != "a" && segment_3 != "b"}
Do not show this content if segment_2 is either a or b
{/if}

Does that get what you’re shooting for?

Aahhh yes, at last! I had already given up and switched to a different approach, but your solutions works like i wanted it to work in the first place, and it’s cleaner then my work around!

That said; my first thought seeing your approach is that it can’t possibly work because BOTH conditions have to be not true, and not just one, conditionals can really throw you off sometimes.

Thanks!

😉  Glad to help- I had to map it out before I was sure myself!