What is the best way to structure conditional logic?
It occurs to me that there are number of different ways to structure conditional logic. As far as I can see, as long as we set errors to end the script (or you can imagine the same examples but with a return in a function), then the following examples are equal:

**Example 1**

    if($condition1) {
        trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
        }

    if($condition2) {
        trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
        }

    echo "If either condition was true, we won't see this printed";

**Example 2**

    if(!$condition1) {
        if(!$condition2) {
            echo "If either condition was true, we won't see this printed";
            }
        else {
            trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
            }
        }
    else {
        trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
        }

**Example 3**

    if($condition1) {
        trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
        }
    else {
        if($condition2) {
            trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
            }
        else {
            echo "If either condition was true, we won't see this printed";
            }
        }

Personally, I lean towards writing code as in Example 1. This is because I feel that by checking for conditions that end the script (or function) in this way, I can clearly define what the script executed and not executed i.e. everything before the condition has been executed and everything after the line has not. This means when I get an error on line 147, I know immediately what has happened helping me to find a bug faster. Furthermore, if I suddenly realise I need to test $condition2 before $condition1, I can make a change by a simple copy paste.

I see a lot of code written like in Example 2 but for me, this seems much more complex to debug. This is because, when the nesting gets too great, an error will get fired off at some distant line at the bottom and be separated from the condition that caused it by a huge chunk of nested code. Additionally, altering the conditional sequence can be a lot messier.

You could hybrid the two styles, such as in Example 3, but this then seems to overcomplicate matters because all of the 'else's are essentially redundant.

Am I missing something? What is the best way to structure my conditional code? Is there a better way than these examples?

Thanks!

P.S. Please keep in mind that I might need to do some arbitrary steps inbetween checking $condition1 and $condition2 so any alternatives must accommodate that. Otherwise, there are trivially better alternatives such as if($condition1 || $condition2).
What is the best way to structure conditional logic?
===

It occurs to me that there are number of different ways to structure conditional logic. As far as I can see, as long as we set errors to end the script (or you can imagine the same examples but with a return in a function), then the following examples are equal:

**Example 1**

    if($condition1) {
        trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
        }

    if($condition2) {
        trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
        }

    echo "If either condition was true, we won't see this printed";

**Example 2**

    if(!$condition1) {
        if(!$condition2) {
            echo "If either condition was true, we won't see this printed";
            }
        else {
            trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
            }
        }
    else {
        trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
        }

**Example 3**

    if($condition1) {
        trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
        }
    else {
        if($condition2) {
            trigger_error("The script is now terminated");
            }
        else {
            echo "If either condition was true, we won't see this printed";
            }
        }

Personally, I lean towards writing code as in Example 1. This is because I feel that by checking for conditions that end the script (or function) in this way, I can clearly define what the script executed and not executed i.e. everything before the condition has been executed and everything after the line has not. This means when I get an error on line 147, I know immediately what has happened helping me to find a bug faster. Furthermore, if I suddenly realise I need to test $condition2 before $condition1, I can make a change by a simple copy paste.

I see a lot of code written like in Example 2 but for me, this seems much more complex to debug. This is because, when the nesting gets too great, an error will get fired off at some distant line at the bottom and be separated from the condition that caused it by a huge chunk of nested code. Additionally, altering the conditional sequence can be a lot messier.

You could hybrid the two styles, such as in Example 3, but this then seems to overcomplicate matters because all of the 'else's are essentially redundant.

Am I missing something? What is the best way to structure my conditional code? Is there a better way than these examples?

Thanks!

P.S. Please keep in mind that I might need to do some arbitrary steps inbetween checking $condition1 and $condition2 so any alternatives must accommodate that. Otherwise, there are trivially better alternatives such as if($condition1 || $condition2).