PHP syntax question

Question

I found this line of code and I'm trying to comprehend what it's doing. The part I'm not familiar with is the question mark and the colon. What are these characters used for?

$string = $array[1] . ($array[0] === 47 ? '' : ' word');

This is the conditional operator. It is also a type of ternary operator (simply because it has 3 operands) and often folks make the mistake of calling it the ternary operator which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. — Andrew Hare
– Andrew Hare, Commented Oct 29, 2009 at 6:18
Also this is a duplicate, please see stackoverflow.com/questions/889373/quick-php-syntax-question and stackoverflow.com/questions/1276909/…. — Andrew Hare
– Andrew Hare, Commented Oct 29, 2009 at 6:20
@Andrew -- silly or not, the PHP manual has named this construct The Ternary Operator, so it's not a mistake to refer to it as such php.net/manual/en/language.operators.comparison.php — Alana Storm
– Alana Storm, Commented Oct 29, 2009 at 6:26
See stackoverflow.com/questions/80646/… for your next question. :) — Greg Hewgill
– Greg Hewgill, Commented Oct 29, 2009 at 6:28

Josh Leitzel · Accepted Answer · 2009-10-29 06:16:19Z

5

That's a ternary operator; basically a short-hand conditional.

It's the same as:

$string = $array[1];

if ($array[0] !== 47)
    $string .= ' word';

See this section in the PHP manual (the "Ternary Operator" section).

answered Oct 29, 2009 at 6:16

Josh Leitzel

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Teej · Accepted Answer · 2009-10-29 06:18:47Z

0

That's the ternary operator.

Here's a reference to a tutorial

It works somehow like this:

function tern()

    if ($array[0] === 47)
    {
        return '';
    }
    else
    {
        return 'word';
    }
}

answered Oct 29, 2009 at 6:18

Teej

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