Hi, I'm curious to know what the syntax " : " mean in php I've seen it a couple of times but I can't seem to explain it to myself. Can you also use it in a sentence....or i mean, sample code?
**edit:
sorry folks, I was referring to the ternary operator. Thanks for the other entries as well. I didn't know what to call it at first, apologies.
It's the ternary operator:
echo ($a == 1 ? "A is 1" : "A is not 1");
Are you talking about the conditional operator?
$a = $gork === 1 ? $foo : $bar;
Check out the "Ternary Operator" section on this page: http://php.net/manual/en/language.operators.comparison.php
It's basically a short cut for an if else, the above code is the same as:
if($gork === 1)
$a = $foo;
else
$a = $bar;
Perhaps you are referring to the ternary operator, which uses a ? and : as follows:
$variable = boolean_expression ? "true_value" : "false_value";
This code is shorthand for an if-else:
if (boolean_expression) {
$variable = "true_value";
}
else {
$variable = "false_value";
}
This is a short-form conditional expression, known in PHP as the "ternary operator." See the PHP manual for more details on its usage.
echo ($sheLovesMe ? "She loves me!" : "She loves me not!");
It can also refer to a goto
MyGoto:
if (DoSomething())
goto MyGoto;
Very few circumstances warrant a goto, but that's what it can mean if not a ternary operator.
How about the shorthand syntax for blocks in PHP embedded in HTML? For example
<body>
<h1>Some Header</h1>
<?php if($somevariable == '4') : ?>
<h2>Some other thing</h2>
<p>Some text</p>
<?php else: ?>
<h3>Else!</h3>
<?php endif; ?>
</body>
Probably doesn't necessarily count as an operator. More of a delimiter here.
The ?: operator is a ternary operator called the conditional operator.
It is conditional because the expressions expr2 and expr3 in expr1 ? expr2 : expr3 are evaluated based on the evaluated return value of expr1:
?: operator expression;?: operator expression is the return value of expr3.Here’s an example:
echo 1 == 1 ? "true" : "false";
If 1 == 1 evaluates to true, "true" will be echoed, otherwise "false".
Note that the ?: operator is just a and not the ternary operator. The word ternary just means that there are three operands (op1 ? op2 : op3) just like a binary operator has two operands (e.g. op1 + op2, op1 / op2, op1 % op2, etc.) and unary operators just have one operand (e.g. !op, -op, ~op, etc.).