PHP | Ternary Operator (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 25 Apr, 2025

If-else and Switch cases are used to evaluate conditions and decide the flow of a program. The ternary operator is a shortcut operator used for shortening the conditional statements.

ternary operator: The ternary operator (?:) is a conditional operator used to perform a simple comparison or check on a condition having simple statements. It decreases the length of the code performing conditional operations. The order of operation of this operator is from left to right. It is called a ternary operator because it takes three operands- a condition, a result statement for true, and a result statement for false. The syntax for the ternary operator is as follows.

Syntax:

(Condition) ? (Statement1) : (Statement2);

• Condition: It is the expression to be evaluated and returns a boolean value.
• Statement 1: It is the statement to be executed if the condition results in a true state.
• Statement 2: It is the statement to be executed if the condition results in a false state.

The result of this comparison can also be assigned to a variable using the assignment operator. The syntax is as follows:

Variable = (Condition) ? (Statement1) : (Statement2);

If the statement executed depending on the condition returns any value, it will be assigned to the variable.

Advantages of Ternary Operator: Following are some advantages of ternary operator:

• The use of the ternary operator will make the code shorter in comparison to the IF ELSE statement.
• The code can be quick in length in comparison to the IF ELSE statement.
• The readability of the code will increase with the usage of conditional statements.
• The use of the ternary operator makes the code simpler.

Example 1: In this example, if the value of aisgreaterthan15,then20willbereturnedandwillbeassignedtoa is greater than 15, then 20 will be returned and will be assigned to aisgreaterthan15,then20willbereturnedandwillbeassignedtob, else 5 will be returned and assigned to $b.

php

<?php

`` $a = 10;

`` $b = $a > 15 ? 20 : 5;

`` print ( "Value of b is " . $b );

?>

Output:

Value of b is 5

Example 2: In this example, if the value of $age is more than or equal to 18, “Adult” is passed to print function and printed, else “Not Adult” is passed and printed.

php

<?php

`` $age = 20;

`` print ( $age >= 18) ? "Adult" : "Not Adult" ;

?>

Output:

Adult

When we use ternary operator: We use the ternary operator when we need to simplify the if-else statements that are simply assigning values to variables depending on a condition. An advantage of using a ternary operator is that it reduces the huge if-else block to a single line, improving the code readability and simplify it. Very useful while assigning variables after form submission.

Example:

Original Code:

php

<?php

if (isset( $_POST [ 'Name' ]))

`` $name = $_POST [ 'Name' ];

else

`` $name = null;

if (isset( $_POST [ 'Age' ]))

`` $age = $_POST [ 'Age' ];

else

`` $age = null;

?>

Reduced to the following: Thus, the ternary operator successfully reduces the if-else block to a single line, hence serving its purpose.

php

<?php

$name = isset( $_POST [ 'Name' ])? $_POST [ 'Name' ]:null;

$age = isset( $_POST [ 'Age' ])? $_POST [ 'Age' ]:null;

?>

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