69a4eb67fe
* Added additional section and update previous section Added an additional section for complex ternary operations and updated previous section to have csharp flavored code rendering. * Paulywill requested changes Paulywill requested changes: removed any "I" terminology and my personal REPL link. * Update index.md Changed the subheading markdown. * Update index.md
72 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
72 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Ternary operator
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---
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# Ternary operator (`?:`)
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The ternary operator returns one of the two expressions based on a condition. It can be used as a shortcut for if...else statement.
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## Syntax
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```
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condition_expression ? expression_1 : expression_2
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```
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### Parameter
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`condition_expression`
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Boolean expression.
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`expression_1`
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Returned if `condition_expression` is true.
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`expression_2`
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Returned if `condition_expression` is false.
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## Example
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```csharp
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// initialize - set true or false here to view different result
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bool hasFreeSweet = false;
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string str = hasFreeSweet ? "Free sweet!" : "No free sweet.";
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//output in console
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Console.WriteLine(str);
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```
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### Output
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```csharp
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if hasFreeSweet == true
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> Free sweet!
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if hasFreeSweet == false
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> No free sweet.
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```
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## Complex Ternary Operations
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Ternary operations can also be embedded inside each other to create one line of execution rather than several lines. *It is important to take into account that this may affect the readability of your code.*
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To embed more ternary operations within another ternary operation, you only have to follow the same pattern as above with each new ternary operation added. You will start with a primary ternary operation, which will consequently lead to your other ternary operations based on boolean expressions. You can branch each ternary operation based off of the `true` and/or `false` paths of the ternary operations, but we are going to focus on going off the `false` path for the ternary operation for the example code below, as most complicated ternary operations will be embedded in the `false` path.
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Let's say we have a result `myResult` that is an `int` and can be 0, 1, or greater than 1. And we would like to output `"Just Starting"` if `myResult` is 0, `"First Place"` if `myResult` is 1, and `"If you're not first, you're last."` if `myResult` is 2 or greater. So, we need 3 outcomes for this ternary operation.
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## Example
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```csharp
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//Initialize myResult with a 4
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int myResult = 4;
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//Output to the console the results of having a 4 in myResult based on what is expected.
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//The extra parenthesis after "Just Starting" is for grouping
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//and is not necessary for the code to execute as expected
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Console.WriteLine((myResult == 0) ? "Just Starting" :
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//second ternary operation which is a part of the first operation (when myResult is not equal to 0)
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((myResult == 1) ? "First Place" :
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//the last part of the last ternary operation (when myResult is not equal to 1)
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"If you're not first, you're last."));
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//Output:
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>If you're not first, you're last.
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```
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You can continue this pattern to embed as many ternary operations as you wish, although it is **not recommended** to use more than a couple ternary operations in your code as it will drastically reduce the readability if you need to have someone else read it, contribute to it, etc.
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