How Does PHP's Conditional Operator Work?

Exploring PHP's Conditional Operators

PHP offers several operators to handle conditional statements, with the "?:" and ":" operators serving as essential tools.

The Conditional Operator (? :)

The conditional operator "?" acts like an inline "if-else" statement. It takes the form:

$x ? $y : $z

This expression evaluates to $y if $x is true (i.e., not false, null, or 0) and to $z otherwise. For example:

($request_type == 'SSL') ? HTTPS_SERVER : HTTP_SERVER

This expression returns HTTPS_SERVER if $request_type is 'SSL' and HTTP_SERVER otherwise.

Short Form (? :)

PHP provides a short form for the conditional operator:

$x ?: $z

This form evaluates to $x if $x is true and to $z if $x is false.

Distinguishing Ternary Operator

While the conditional operator is commonly referred to as the "ternary operator," this designation is actually a misnomer. Ternary operators have three operands, and "?" is just one of many ternary operators in PHP.

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