88 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
88 lines
1.4 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 in C is a shorthand for simple **if/else** statements.
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It takes three arguments:
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1. An condition
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2. The result if the condition evaluates to true
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3. The result if the condition evaluates to false
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### Syntax
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`condition ? value_if_true : value_if_false`
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`value_if_true` and `value_if_false` must have the same type, and must be simple expressions not full statements.
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### Example
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Here's an example without the ternary operator:
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```c
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int a = 10, b = 20, c;
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if (a < b) {
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c = a;
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}
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else {
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c = b;
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}
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printf("%d", c);
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```
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Here's the above example re-written to use the **ternary operator**:
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```c
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int a = 10, b = 20, c;
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c = (a < b) ? a : b;
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printf("%d", c);
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```
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Both examples will output:
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```c
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10
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```
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`c` is set equal to `a` (10), because the condition `a < b` was true.
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### Nested Example
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The ternary operator can also be nested.
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Consider this nested if-else statement :
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```c
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int a = 1, b = 2, ans;
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if (a == 1) {
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if (b == 2) {
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ans = 3;
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} else {
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ans = 5;
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}
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} else {
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ans = 0;
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}
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printf ("%d\n", ans);
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```
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Here's the above code re-written using nested ternary operators:
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```c
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int a = 1, b = 2, ans;
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ans = (a == 1 ? (b == 2 ? 3 : 5) : 0);
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printf ("%d\n", ans);
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```
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The output of both of the above code snippets will be:
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```c
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3
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```
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