Assigning result to an expression using the if keyword

In Kotlin if is special because it returns values. That is why we can use an if statement to assign values to a result. This removes the need for a ternary operator in Kotlin. Let's see how we can use if statements to assign value.

Getting ready

You need to install a preferred development environment that compiles and runs Kotlin. You can also use the command line for this purpose, for which you need Kotlin compiler installed, along with JDK. I am using the command line for compiling and running my Kotlin code for this recipe.

How to do it...

Create a file and name it ifWithKotlin.kt. You can name it anything; it need not be the same as the class name because it is in Java. Now, to get started, you should always declare the main method because the Java virtual machine starts execution by invoking the main method of the specified class.

The main method is as follows:

fun main(args: Array<String>) { }

1. Let's try a basic if statement in a...