otherwise as case-else soft keyword (FPC default-mode parity)

• Type: feature (Pascal frontend, small) — Track P
• Status: done conformance burn-down in [[bug-case-of-string-segfault-and-label-validation]]
• Owner: opus-fruit

What

otherwise (ISO 10206 origin) as a synonym of else inside case:

case i of
  1: n := 1;
  otherwise n := 99;   { = else n := 99; }
end;

Verified 2026-07-11: stock FPC 3.2.2 accepts this in its DEFAULT mode — no {$mode ExtendedPascal} needed. So under the FPC-compatible bar this is a real (tiny) gap, not an ISO curiosity. Like else, it takes an implicit statement list up to end.

Where

ParseCaseStatementAST (parser.inc): treat ident otherwise at branch-start exactly like tkElse — soft keyword (only special in that position; pxx has soft-keyword precedent, v136-9). No AST/IR change: reuse the existing else-branch node shape.

Payoff

Burns conformance skip tcase50.pp (currently misfiled as "ExtendedPascal otherwise clause"; fix the reason or delete the entry when this lands). Add a positive test (otherwise-branch taken/not-taken) and keep a variable named otherwise compiling outside case (soft-keyword regression).

Gate

make test + self-host fixedpoint (shared parser.inc = A-gated); tools/run_pascal_conformance.sh --only 'tcase*'.

Log

• 2026-07-11 — resolved, commit 5a27ba18.