Control flow

Chute's control flow statements compile directly to their Shortcuts equivalents: if to an If action, for to Repeat with Each, repeat to Repeat, and menu to Choose from Menu.

if / else if / else

Test a condition and run a block:

const x = 5;
if (x > 3) {
  showAlert(text: "big");
}

Add else for an alternative:

if (x > 3) {
  showAlert(text: "big");
} else {
  showAlert(text: "small");
}

Chain multiple conditions with else if:

if (x > 100) {
  showAlert(text: "huge");
} else if (x > 10) {
  showAlert(text: "medium");
} else {
  showAlert(text: "small");
}

Variables declared inside an if or else block are scoped to that block. They aren.t visible outside it.

Conditions

Conditions in if statements support:

Operator	Meaning	Example
==	Equal to	x == 5
!=	Not equal to	x != 0
>	Greater than	x > 3
>=	Greater than or equal	x >= 3
<	Less than	x < 10
<=	Less than or equal	x <= 10
contains	Text contains substring	name contains "Alice"
!contains	Text doesn't contain	name !contains "test"
hasPrefix	Text starts with	url hasPrefix "https"
hasSuffix	Text ends with	file hasSuffix ".chute"
is	Type test	value is Number
in	Range test	x in 1...10

Combine conditions with &&, ||, and !:

if (x > 0 && x < 100) {
  showAlert(text: "in range");
}

if (!(x == 0)) {
  showAlert(text: "nonzero");
}

Conditions can be grouped with parentheses:

if ((x > 0 && x < 10) || x == 100) {
  showAlert(text: "match");
}

A boolean variable can be used directly as a condition:

const ready = true;
if (ready) {
  showAlert(text: "go!");
}

for loops

Iterate over a list:

const items = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"];
for item in items {
  showAlert(text: item);
}

The loop variable is typed from the list's element type and scoped to the loop body.

In Shortcuts, this compiles to a "Repeat with Each" action.

repeat loops

Run a block a fixed number of times:

repeat 3 {
  showAlert(text: "again!");
}

Use #index to access the current iteration index (starting from 0):

repeat 5 {
  showAlert(text: "Iteration ${#index}");
}

In Shortcuts, this compiles to a "Repeat" action. #index maps to the Repeat Index magic variable.

menu

Present a menu of choices to the user:

menu "What would you like to do?" {
  case "Say Hello" {
    showAlert(text: "Hello!");
  }
  case "Say Goodbye" {
    showAlert(text: "Goodbye!");
  }
}

Each case has a label (the text shown to the user) and a body of statements.

In Shortcuts, this compiles to a "Choose from Menu" action with one menu item per case.

return

Use return to exit a function early, optionally with a value:

func abs(n: Number) -> Number {
  if (n < 0) {
    return -n;
  }
  return n;
}

return is only valid inside a function body. At the top level, it's a compile error.

Related

• Variables and bindings: loop variables and scoping
• Expressions: condition operators in detail
• Functions: return statements