a more readable way to do this?

Question

Hi there.

I know there is a more readable way of writing this:

var string = ( 
  (r.d != 0 ? r.d + (r.d == 1 ? ' day' : ' days') : '' ) +
  (r.h != 0 ? r.h + (r.h == 1 ? ' hour' : ' hours') : '' ) +
  (r.m != 0 ? r.m + (r.m == 1 ? ' minute' : ' minutes') : '' ) +
  (r.s != 0 ? r.s + (r.s == 1 ? ' second' : ' seconds') : '' ));

Answer 1

I would use something like this:

function pluralize(aVal, aSuffix) {
   var r = '';

   if (aVal != 0) {
      r = aVal + ' ' + aSuffix + (aVal > 1 ? 's' : '');
   }

   return r;
}

var string = pluralize(r.d, 'day') + pluralize(r.h, 'hour') + 
     pluralize(r.m, 'minute') + pluralize(r.s, 'second')

EDIT: renamed the function to pluralize

Answer 2

Try something a bit more readable:

function singleOrPlural(val, single, plural){
  if(val == 1)
    return val + ' ' + single;
  if(val > 1)
    return val + ' ' + plural;
  return '';
}

Use as:

singleOrPlural(r.day, 'day', 'days')

You can even go nuts and add this to the prototype, and end up with r.days.singleOrPlural('day', 'days'), but I don't think it's needed here.

Answer 3

function getvalue(val, unit) 
{
        if(val>0) 
            return val + unit + (val > 1 ? 's' : '');
        else
            return '';
}

var string = gets(r.d, 'day') + gets(r.h, 'hour') + gets(r.m, 'minute') + gets(r.s, 'second');