Ternary Operator

By
Paul Leahy
Computer Science Expert
  • M.A., Advanced Information Systems, University of Glasgow
Paul Leahy is a computer programmer with over a decade of experience working in the IT industry, as both an in-house and vendor-based developer.
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Paul Leahy
Updated August 10, 2017

The ternary operator "?:" earns its name because it's the only operator to take three operands. It is a conditional operator that provides a shorter syntax for the if..then..else statement. The first operand is a boolean expression; if the expression is true then the value of the second operand is returned otherwise the value of the third operand is returned: 

 boolean expression ? value1 : value2

Examples:

The following if..then..else statement: 

 boolean isHappy = true;
String mood = "";
if (isHappy == true)
{
mood = "I'm Happy!";
}
else
{
mood = "I'm Sad!";
}

can be reduced to one line using the ternary operator: 

 boolean isHappy = true;
String mood = (isHappy == true)?"I'm Happy!":"I'm Sad!";

Generally the code is easier to read when the if..then..else statement is written in full but sometimes the ternary operator can be a handy syntax shortcut.