Shortest if/else using ternary operators

Question

I have this piece of code:

<?=!empty($options["placeholder"]) ? $options["placeholder"]:'search...'?>

I was under the impression I could do like:

<?=!empty($options["placeholder"]) ?:'search...'?>

But when $options["placeholder"] is not empty then it returns 1, as it is a ternary operator.

Do I have to always issue the variable 2 times?

`Do I have to always issue the variable 2 times?` Yes. – Petah Apr 15 '14 at 02:21 — Petah, Apr 15 '14 at 02:21

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 15 '14 at 02:22

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Yes. There is however been many requests wanting to change this:

answered Apr 15 '14 at 02:22

Petah

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score -1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:11

-1

If you can be sure that $options['placeholder'] will be set--if not you can prefix it with @ to suppress the warning--you can drop the empty call:

<?= $options["placeholder"] ?: 'search...' ?>

The Elvis operator ?: evaluates to the left hand side if it is truthy (true when coerced to a boolean value such as 1 or a non-empty string 'foo') or the right hand side if not.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:11

Community

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answered Apr 15 '14 at 02:36

David Harkness

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I finally understood the **Elvis** operator. `?:` – user2094178 Apr 15 '14 at 04:14

Shortest if/else using ternary operators

2 Answers2