Branch (computer science)

A branch is a point in the instruction stream of a computer program where the address of the next instruction is not the next sequential storage location. A branch may be unconditional (implying that the branch is always taken) or conditional, implying that the decision to take the branch or not depends on some condition that must be evaluated.

Certain computer architectures (such as the PDP-11) refer to an unconditional branch as a jump.