Blocks

Blocks can be introduced in two different ways: by indenting statements or with ()s.

The first way is to use indenting, e.g. using if-elif-else, while, for statements, or the block statement.

if true:
  echo "Nim is great!"

while false:
  echo "This line is never output!"

block:
  echo "This line, on the other hand, is always output"

The block statement can also be labeled, making it useful for breaking out of loops and is useful for general scoping as well.

block outer:
  for i in 0..2000:
    for j in 0..2000:
      if i+j == 3145:
        echo i, ", ", j
        break outer

let b = 3
block:
  let b = "3"  # shadowing is probably a dumb idea

Parentheses can be used as an expression, but they do not provide end of statement inference, so it is necessary to place semicolons yourself. An interesting and unexpected side effect of this syntax is that Nim is suitable even for die-hard brace purists!

While possible, it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Most Nim code does not use parentheses in that way, and it would not be seen as idiomatic.

proc square(inSeq: seq[float]): seq[float] = (
  result = newSeq[float](len(inSeq));
  for i, v in inSeq: (
    result[i] = v*v;
  )
)