PHP: Comparison within Assignment Statement

Question

In my never-ending quest to optimise my line usage, I've just got a quick question about what exactly can go into as assignment statement in PHP (and other languages too, but I'm working on a PHP project).

In my program I have a certain boolean variable, which is toggled by a few things summarised by an if statement. I thought, hang on, that if statement will evaluate to a boolean value, can I just use that logic in one line, as opposed to wrapping a separate assignment statement inside the if. Basically my question is will:

$myVar = ($a == $b);

be equivalent to

if ($a == $b) { $myVar = true; }
else { $myVar = false; }

As you can see, this saves me one whole line, so it will impact my project hugely. /sarcasm

You can take a look at the ternary operator. But don't make your code unreadable just by saving code lines. — Rizier123
– Rizier123, Commented Mar 4, 2016 at 0:48
I'd close this question, as ternary operator is a common knowledge. At the same time - I don't understand the huge impact of economy of lines of code. I'd also recommend you, Daniel, to read-up on PSR-2, it will definitely have huge impact on your PHP project ;) php-fig.org/psr/psr-2 — Farside
– Farside, Commented Mar 4, 2016 at 0:54
Yeah, I was asking more out of curiosity than anything. Obviously an actual if statement makes it a bit more readable. I wasn't aware of the ternary operator. I did a bunch of googling for "Comparison inside assignment" and the like, but knowing that keyword would have helped. — Daniel Forsyth
– Daniel Forsyth, Commented Mar 4, 2016 at 1:14

David J Eddy · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-04 00:48:22Z

2

What you are looking for is a terinary operation. Something simialar to

$var = ($a === $b ? true : false);
echo $var;

Depending on the evaluation result of $a === $b the value of $var is then set.

answered Mar 4, 2016 at 0:48

David J Eddy

2,0471 gold badge20 silver badges37 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

invisal · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-04 01:06:37Z

2

Short answer, $myVar = ($a == $b); is the same as if ($a == $b) { $myVar = true; } else { $myVar = false; }.

And if you want to be even shorter, you can even remove the (...) and have it barely $myVar = $a == $b;

answered Mar 4, 2016 at 1:06

invisal

11.2k4 gold badges36 silver badges54 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP: Comparison within Assignment Statement

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related