Conditional Operator

Conditional operators are also called ternary operators as it takes three arguments. You can think of a conditional operator as short form of if then else block.

Syntax:

expression 1 ? expression 2 : expression 3

Here;

• Expression 1 must be a condition.
• Expression 2 and 3 are some statements.

If Expression 1 evaluates to be “true” (non-zero) then expression 2 will be executed, otherwise expression 3 will be executed.

Now, we can also write it as;

Condition ? Statement 1 : Statement 2

It is a single line implementation of if then else

Implementation:

As it’s a single line operation, and it act like a decision control structure. Hence, it can be used for assigning a value to a variable, depending upon some condition.

Let’s see the example code below;

The

The highlighted line of code is representing the value assignment to the variable, depending on the specified condition.

The first expression that is a condition: n1>n2

Second expression is a variable to be assigned to the variable “max” if the condition evaluates as “true”

Third expression is also a variable to be assigned to the variable “max” if the condition evaluates as “false”

Nested Conditional Operators:

Like if then else blocks, conditional operators can also be nested. There can be many forms as per the program’s requirement;

a ? b : c

This is the simplest form that corresponds to if then else block. We have already discussed this.

a ? b : c ? d : e ? f : g ? h : i

This form is a bit complex, it can be understood as if else if block;

Break the expression into smaller parts;

In terms of if else blocks;

a ? b ? c : d : e

Following is the expansion for this form of nested conditional operator;

In terms of if else blocks;