Statements

A C++ program is made up of many small statements. A statement is a single instruction to the computer — for example "print this text" or "add these two numbers". Every statement ends with a semicolon ";".

std::cout << "Hello, C++!";

The semicolon works like a period at the end of a sentence: it tells the compiler "this statement is finished, the next one follows". Leave it out, and the compiler won't know where one statement ends and the next begins — it will report an error.

int main() {
    std::cout << "Hello!";
    std::cout << "How are you?";
    return 0;
}

Every statement in C++ must end with a semicolon.

At its core, a C++ program is simply a sequence of statements. The processor runs them strictly in order — from top to bottom, one after another. At this stage, there are no "shortcuts" or jumps yet — it's purely step-by-step execution.

Which character marks the end of a statement in C++?

Statements don't float around freely — they always sit inside a block enclosed by curly braces { }, such as the body of the main() function. You'll see exactly how these blocks work in the next lesson.

C++ executes a program's statements in order, from ____ to bottom.