Computer Dictionary of Information Technology

control flow

(Or "flow of control") The sequence of execution of the instructions in a program. Control flow is normally linear, executing the instructions in the order they were written. It can be changed at run time by control structures such as if statements, loops or goto statements). These high-level language statements are translated by the compiler or interpreter into machine instructions, most commonly conditional branch instructions.

Interrupts and exception handling also change the sequence of execution of instructions but are not part of normal control flow.

Not to be confused with "flow control".