A
branch is an instruction in a
computer program that can cause a computer to begin executing a different instruction sequence and thus deviate from its default behavior of executing instructions in order.
Branch (or
branching,
branched) may also refer to the act of switching execution to a different instruction sequence as a result of executing a branch instruction. A branch instruction can be either an
unconditional branch, which always results in branching, or a
conditional branch, which may or may not cause branching, depending on some condition. Branch instructions are used to implement
control flow in program loops and conditionals (i.e., executing a particular sequence of instructions only if certain conditions are satisfied).