I've been doing a bulk replace of 'case..else' to 'case..otherwise' to eliminate possible ambiguities that have bitten me in the past, and have noticed something interesting under 2.6.4 on x86 Linux.

This is OK:

         Ord('.'): case shiftState of
                     unshifted: mechCode := Corr_88_Period;
                     shifted:
                   else
                   end;

This is an error:

         Ord('.'): case shiftState of
                     unshifted: mechCode := Corr_88_Period;
                     shifted:
                   otherwise
                   end;

I can fix it like this:

         Ord('.'): case shiftState of
                     unshifted: mechCode := Corr_88_Period;
                     shifted: ;
                   otherwise
                   end;

But that grates since I was brought up on ; being a statement separator rather than a terminator. Alternatively this is OK:

         Ord('.'): case shiftState of
                     unshifted: mechCode := Corr_88_Period;
                     shifted:
                   end;

but I like having the regular code (in some cases there are active otherwise clauses, and I spent enough time with Modula-2 to prefer enumerating all possibilities).

Is this difference expected, and what is the best workaround?

Mark Morgan Lloyd wrote

I've been doing a bulk replace of 'case..else' to 'case..otherwise' to eliminate possible ambiguities that have bitten me in the past, and have noticed something interesting under 2.6.4 on x86 Linux.

How can "else" be ambiguous within a case statement?

Howard

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If one omits the trailing semicolon (the one that's commented), the else becomes ambiguous:

Case Something of
    Value1: ;
    Value2: If Condition Then DoSomething (*;*)
Else
End;

Yes, that's the one. When I raised it it was pointed out to me that the otherwise form was intended as a drop-in replacement to avoid this.