How to Use the Conditional (Ternary) Operator in JavaScript

The conditional (ternary) operator is a shorthand way of writing an if/else statement in JavaScript. It can be used to evaluate a condition and return a result based on the condition. This guide will provide an overview of how to use the conditional (ternary) operator in JavaScript and provide some examples of its use.

What is the Conditional (Ternary) Operator?

The conditional operator is a shorthand way of writing an if/else statement in JavaScript. It has the following syntax:

condition ? resultIfTrue : resultIfFalse

The condition is a boolean expression that evaluates to true or false. If the condition is true, the resultIfTrue is returned; if the condition is false, the resultIfFalse is returned.

Using the Conditional (Ternary) Operator

Let’s take a look at a simple example of how to use the conditional operator. In this example, we’ll create a function that takes two numbers as arguments and returns the larger number. Here’s the code:

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function getMax(a, b) {
  return (a > b) ? a : b;
}

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This code can be read as “if a is greater than b, return a; otherwise, return b”. The ? and : operators act as a shorthand if/else statement, making the code much more concise than if we had written it using a traditional if/else statement.

More Complex Examples

The conditional operator can also be used to evaluate more complex conditions. For example, let’s say we wanted to create a function that takes three numbers as arguments and returns the largest number. Here’s how we could do it using the conditional operator:

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function getMax(a, b, c) {
  return (a > b) ? ( (a > c) ? a : c ) : ( (b > c) ? b : c );
}

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This code can be read as “if a is greater than b, then compare a to c; otherwise, compare b to c. Return the larger of the two numbers.” This is a much more concise way of writing this logic than using traditional if/else statements.

Conclusion

The conditional (ternary) operator is a powerful tool that allows you to write concise and efficient code in JavaScript. It can be used to evaluate a condition and return a result based on the condition, making it a great alternative to traditional if/else statements. The examples in this guide should give you a good starting point for using the conditional operator in your own code.