Statements

• a simple statement
• a null statement
• a block
• a control statement

Simple Statement

expression ; for example y = 7;

Null Statement

; which is rarely used but causes problems for new C programmers. For example, the following code compiles and executes, but does not produce the desired effect
/* an unintentional null statement */ while (i < 0); { printf ("The value of i is %d\n", i); i--; }

Block

{ S₁ S₂ S₃ ... S_n } where the S_i are statements enclosed with braces

Control Statement

an if, for, while, ...

So that's the rule for semicolons!

• In C, the semicolon is used to terminate a simple statement
• In Pascal, the semicolon separates statements