Does logical or ignores second statement if first is true

Question

In Java (Eclipse), when having a statement such as if (true || false), it will end up true but the question is will the compiler evaluate the second statement if the first is true? This is of an importance to me because I have an operation I need to do if the variable is null OR it has a certain value. My statement looks like if (array == null || array[i] < array[j]). You can see the reason for my question, because if array is set to null then the second statement will produce an error. So, will the true from array == null suffice or will the compiler evaluate array[i] < array[j]) also?

score 29 · Accepted Answer · answered May 09 '14 at 10:13

29

No it won't.

With boolean operator ||, if first term is true second term won't be evaluated.
With bitwise operator | both terms are evaluated

Similarly...

With boolean operator &&, if first term is false second term won't be evaluated
With bitwise operator &, both terms are evaluated

Java operators docs here.

answered May 09 '14 at 10:13

Mena

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Thank you! I could have tested it on my expression but reaching the point where I could debug it is far away and it would be a shame to do all that work and end up fixing it. – Sharon Dorot May 09 '14 at 10:15
@SharonJDDorot you're welcome. – Mena May 09 '14 at 10:17
@SharonJDDorot - have a look at the Groovy Console (http://groovyconsole.appspot.com/) - really useful for putting these little snippets in. – Al Sweetman May 09 '14 at 10:18
flawless answer @Mena – Gaurav Aug 04 '21 at 16:01

Does logical or ignores second statement if first is true

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