C Short Hand If Else

Short Hand If...Else (Ternary Operator)

There is also a short-hand if else, which is known as the ternary operator because it consists of three operands. It can be used to replace multiple lines of code with a single line. It is often used to replace simple if else statements:

Syntax

variable = ( condition) ? expressionTrue : expressionFalse;

Instead of writing:

Example

int time = 20;
if (time < 18) {
printf("Good day.");
} else {
printf("Good evening.");
}

Try it Yourself »

You can simply write:

Example

int time = 20;
(time < 18) ? printf("Good day.") : printf("Good evening.");

Try it Yourself »

It is completely up to you if you want to use the traditional if...else statement or the ternary operator.

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