Editing Pascal (programming language) (section)

===Semicolons as statement separators===
Pascal adopted many language syntax features from the [[ALGOL]] language, including the use of a semicolon as a statement separator.  This is in contrast to other languages, such as [[PL/I]] and [[C (programming language)|C]], which use the semicolon as a statement terminator.  No semicolon is needed before the <code>end</code> keyword of a record type declaration, a block, or a ''case'' statement; before the <code>until</code> keyword of a repeat statement; and before the <code>else</code> keyword of an ''if'' statement.

The presence of an extra semicolon was not permitted in early versions of Pascal. However, the addition of [[ALGOL]]-like empty statements in the 1973 ''Revised Report'' and later changes to the language in ISO 7185:1983 now allow for optional semicolons in most of these cases. A semicolon is still not permitted immediately before the <code>else</code> keyword in an ''if'' statement, because the <code>else</code> follows a single statement, not a statement sequence. In the case of nested ifs, a semicolon cannot be used to avoid the [[dangling else]] problem (where the inner if does not have an else, but the outer if does) by putatively terminating the nested if with a semicolon – this instead terminates both if clauses. Instead, an explicit <code>begin</code>...<code>end</code> block must be used.<ref>''Pascal,'' Nell Dale and Chip Weems, "Dangling Else", [https://books.google.com/books?id=5x2k4vWwn1wC&pg=PA160 p. 160–161] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318223956/https://books.google.com/books?id=5x2k4vWwn1wC&pg=PA160 |date=2017-03-18}}</ref>