Not operator trouble

[BioGhost]

So whenever I try to run this, it only executes the code in the if statement when a == b, which is the opposite of what I wrote. I've tried initializing a to 7, and even adding a statement to make a and b equal before the if statement. I also tried changing the != to < or >, but those just make the condition execute every time. I feel like I'm missing something really obvious and I'm going to kick myself when I find out what it is. I'm using Code::Blocks on an old HP Pavilion laptop running Windows 7.

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
int a;
int b = 7;
cin >> a;
if (a != b);
{
    cout << "nope";
    cin >> a;
}
    return 0;
}

[Thomas1965]

You need to remove the semicolon after your if statement, then it will work.

[MikeyBoy]

What you've written is the equivalent of:

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
int a;
int b = 7;
cin >> a;
if (a != b)
{
    ;
}

{
    cout << "nope";
    cin >> a;
}
    return 0;
}

I hope that makes it clearer why that semicolon shouldn't be there.

EDIT: Also, I strongly recommend you adopt a consistent indentation style. It will make it much easier for you - and us - to see the flow of control and logic in your code, and make it easier to spot errors.

[BioGhost]

I knew it was something obvious, lol. Thanks so much guys!

[MikeyBoy]

You're welcome - glad it worked!