The IF – ELSE statement in PHP has a shorthand version if you are comparing two values. A conditional operator “?:” (or ternary) operator is used to shorten this statement down to one line. The expression (expr1) ? (expr2) : (expr3) evaluates to expr2 if expr1 evaluates to TRUE, and expr3 if expr1 evaluates to FALSE. In variable example:
$variable = (statement) ? "return if true" : "return if false";
Example below:
<?php
// Example usage for: Ternary Operator
$action = (empty($_POST['action'])) ? 'default' : $_POST['action'];
// The above is identical to this if/else statement
if (empty($_POST['action'])) {
$action = 'default';
} else {
$action = $_POST['action'];
}
?>
Seeing as this statement is one of the most used statement while programming, it is a handy one to remember!
