[erlang-questions] Silly question: if vs pattern matching

[Joel Reymont]

process(String, Env) ->
     {Tree, _} = xmerl_scan:string(String),
     Closures = visit(Tree),
     Tree1 = render(Closures, Env),
     Tree2 = if
                 is_list(Tree1) ->
                     lists:flatten(Tree1);
                 true ->
                     [Tree1]
             end,
     XML = xmerl:export_simple(Tree2, xmerl_xml,
                               [#xmlAttribute{name = prolog,value =  
""}]),
     lists:flatten(XML).

I don't particularly like the "if" above. It just doesn't seem very  
Erlangish to me and I would rather replace it with pattern matching.  
The silly question is...

Is there any performance benefit or drawback to using pattern  
matching as opposed to an "if"?

	Thanks, Joel

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