Ternary Operator
How can we shorten an if-else statement?
The if-statement may not always look elegant, but Java provides a faster and more convenient way to check conditions. It is called the ternary operator, and it has the following syntax:
First, we set a condition, for example, 10 > 5, and then we put a question mark ? after it. If the condition evaluates to true, we go to the true block, for example, System.out.println("That's true");. If the condition evaluates to false, we go to the false block, where we might have something like System.out.println("That's not true");.
Let's analyze a more practical example:
Main
package com.example; public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println(10 > 5 ? "That's true" : "That's false"); System.out.println(5 > 6 ? "That's true" : "That's false"); } }
You may have noticed that we used the ternary operator inside the System.out.println(); statement. That's the main purpose of using the ternary operator - you can use it within output statements to significantly reduce the amount of code.
We can also use the ternary operator when initializing or returning values. You'll learn more about returning values in the next section when you will study methods.
Example of using ternary operator when initializing value:
Main
package com.example; public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) { final int a = 10 > 2 ? 5 : 2; final int b = 10 < 2 ? 5 : 2; System.out.println("Variable 'a' has value: " + a); System.out.println("Variable 'b' has value: " + b); } }
Below is an example code where the ternary operator is replaced with a regular if-statement to help you better understand how it works:
Main
package com.example; public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) { int a = 0; int b = 0; if (10 > 2) { a = 5; } else { a = 2; } if (10 < 2) { b = 5; } else { b = 2; } System.out.println("Variable 'a' has value: " + a); System.out.println("Variable 'b' has value: " + b); } }
The result is the same, but you can see how much space we save by using the ternary operator.
Swipe to start coding
-
Write a code that prints
"The string contains Florida"if the string contains the word Florida, or"Florida is not found"if it does not. -
Use the ternary operator to practice with it.
Solución
solution
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