JIYIK CN >

This article will show you how we can use shorthand methods to write conditionals in PHP if...else. We will use the ternary operator and the null coalescing operator in our demonstration.

Introduction to PHP ternary operator

We can use the ternary operator as if-elsea shorthand way of writing conditions in PHP. However, the ternary operator can be used in all other programming languages. The word ternary means having three elements. Hence, the ternary operator has three operands. We write the condition first, which is the first operand. Then the symbol _ ?separates the condition from the expression to be evaluated if the condition is true. Finally, :the _ separates the true and false value expressions. The syntax is written below.

condition ? trueExpression : falseExpression

Here, conditionis an expression to be evaluated. Option trueExpressionis an expression that conditionwill be executed if is true, and if conditionis false, then falseExpressionwill be executed.

Let's see how to write if-elsethe equivalent of a ternary operation for a conditional. Let's look at the following if-elseconditional.

Sample code:

$num = rand(0,10);
echo "The number is: " . "$num"."<br>";
if($num>5){
    echo "heads";
}else{
    echo "tails";
}

Output:

The number is: 9 
heads

Here, we use if-elsethe conditional to display heads or tails using rand()the function. If the number is greater than 5, we display heads and if the number is less than or equal to 5, we display tails. Here, rand(0,10)a random number from 0to is generated 10. In the following example, the random number is 9 and the result is displayed as heads. An important point to consider is that we cannot echouse the statement with the conditional operator itself. We can use them only after the condition has been evaluated to a result. We can replace the conditional by using the ternary operator with the above program if-else.

Sample code:

$num = rand(0,10);
echo "The number is: " . "$num"."<br>";
echo ($num>5)? "heads":"tails";

Output:

The number is: 6 
heads

In the following example, the random number is 6. It is greater than 5, so the program displays heads. if-elseThe significant difference between the operator and the ternary operator is that we can use echothe statement with the ternary operator. With this, we can use the ternary operator.

true/falseUsing the ternary operator with the statement in PHP

We can also use the ternary operator to declare basic trueor falsevalues. We can use the Boolean values ​​and in trueExpressionand respectively . For example, create a variable and assign it to the value of . Next, create another variable and write the ternary operation in the variable. Write the condition and write the values ​​and as and . Finally, dump the variable using the function.falseExpressiontruefalse$age14$can_vote$age>17truefalsetrueExpressionfalseExpressionvar_dump()$can_vote

The output section will display the output as , which is a Boolean type. In this way, we can use the ternary operator to declare and values false​​in PHP .truefalse

Code example:

$age= 14;
$can_vote = ($age>17 ? true : false);
var_dump($can_vote);

Output:

bool(false)