conditional branch - technical definition

In programming, an instruction that directs the computer to another part of the program based on the results of a compare. In the following (simulated) assembly language example, the second line is the conditional branch.

COMPARE FIELDA with FIELDB
GOTO MATCHROUTINE if EQUAL.

High-level language statements, such as IF THEN ELSE and CASE, are used to express the compare and conditional branch.