# If then statement vs Grid
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/if-then-statement-vs-grid/83537
**Category:** General Usage
**Created:** [June 29, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/if-then-statement-vs-grid/83537 "2022-06-29T23:55:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Albert\_Zevelev](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Albert_Zevelev)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/if-then-statement-vs-grid/83537/1 "2022-06-29T23:55:12Z")
My goal is to create a piecewise function in Julia parsimoniously.
u(x,y) = y if x = 0
u(x,y) = y -1 if x \neq 0
I get the following:
```julia
julia> FC(x) = (x==0):(0):(1)
FC (generic function with 1 method)
julia> u(x,y) = y - FC(x)
u (generic function with 1 method)
julia> u(1,0)
ERROR: ArgumentError: step cannot be zero
Stacktrace:
[1] steprange_last(start::Int64, step::Int64, stop::Int64)
@ Base .\range.jl:221
[2] StepRange
@ .\range.jl:208 [inlined]
[3] StepRange
@ .\range.jl:263 [inlined]
[4] _colon
@ .\range.jl:24 [inlined]
[5] Colon
@ .\range.jl:22 [inlined]
[6] Colon
@ .\range.jl:10 [inlined]
[7] FC
@ .\REPL[3]:1 [inlined]
[8] u(x::Int64, y::Int64)
@ Main .\REPL[4]:1
[9] top-level scope
@ REPL[5]:1
```
Problem is I want the function `FC(x) = (x==0):(0):(1)` to return 0 for x=0 and 1 for x\neq 0.
Instead of being an if/else statement, this function returns a `StepRange`.
And yes I know how to do this the long way…
---
### Author:  [@stevengj](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stevengj)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2022, 11:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/if-then-statement-vs-grid/83537/2 "2022-06-29T23:57:43Z")
> [@Albert\_Zevelev](#):
>
> My goal is to create a piecewise function in Julia parsimoniously.
I’m not sure why you’re using ranges for this. Why not:
```julia
u(x,y) = y - (x != 0)
```
or
```julia
u(x,y) = x == 0 ? y : y - 1
```
?
> [@Albert\_Zevelev](#):
>
> Problem is I want the function `FC(x) = (x==0):(0):(1)` to return 0 for x=0 and 1 for x\neq 0.
That’s just the function `FC(x) = x != 0`, or simply the function `!iszero`. (A boolean value `true`/`false` in Julia corresponds to `1`/`0`, respectively.)
---
### Author:  [@Albert\_Zevelev](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Albert_Zevelev)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/if-then-statement-vs-grid/83537/3 "2022-06-30T00:01:00Z")
I totally forgot the `?` in the if/then.
Here is what I wanted:
`u(x,y) = y - ( (x == 0) ? 0 : 1)`
---
### Author:  [@stevengj](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stevengj)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/if-then-statement-vs-grid/83537/4 "2022-06-30T00:01:52Z")
> [@Albert\_Zevelev](#):
>
> Here is what I wanted:
> `u(x,y) = y - ( (x == 0) ? 0 : 1)`
i.e. `y - (x != 0)`.