The Ternary Operator in C

In C, there's a shorthand for the if-else statement known as the ternary operator, represented by ?:.

(condition) ? value_if_true : value_if_false

You can use this operator when you want to assign one of two values to a variable based on a condition. For instance, to determine the larger of two variables:

int a = 10; 
int b = 4;
int c;
	
c = (a > b) ? a : b;

After executing the above statement, what will be the value of c?

For comparison, here's how the same logic looks using the if...else statement:

if (a > b)
{
	c = a;
}
else
{
	c = b;
}

Note

While the ternary operator is a concise way to express conditionals, it's best to avoid it in complex structures. It can make the code harder to read for your teammates (though perhaps not for your instructor).