What is the primary difference between if and elif statements in Python?

The primary difference between if and elif statements in Python lies in their roles in flow control. The if statement is used to initiate a conditional check. It evaluates the specified condition and, if true, executes the corresponding block of code. If the condition is false, the program can then proceed to check additional conditions using elif statements.

Elif, which stands for "else if," allows for the evaluation of subsequent conditions after the initial if condition has been checked. This means that if the if condition is false, the program will move on and evaluate the condition specified in the elif statement.

Thus, if an if statement is followed by one or more elif statements, it enables more than one condition to be checked sequentially. Each elif provides a new condition to evaluate if the previous if or elif conditions were not true, allowing for a more complex decision structure in the program.

This flexibility allows developers to create more sophisticated control flows based on multiple conditions without needing to nest multiple if statements, improving code readability and maintainability.