Ternary operator and Nested Ternary operator

Ternary operator 

Ternary operator which is a conditional operator and, as the name suggests, it takes three operands (parts).

Ternary operator is available in most languages, like, C, C++, Java, JavaScript, etc

 Syntax:-

 variable = condition ? expression1_if_true : expression2_if_false

Explanation:

condition: This is a boolean expression that evaluates to either true or false.

expression1_if_true: This is the value or statement that is executed if the condition is true.

expression2_if_false: This is the value or statement that is executed if the condition is false.

 Ternary operator is nothing, just a concise way of writing an if-else statement, i.e. the same operation can be achieved using an if-else block as shown below.

 if(condition){

    variable = value_if_true

 }else{

    variable = value_if_false

 }

Example 1 :- C program find max number among two given numbers using ternary operator

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {

    int a = 15, b = 25;

    int max = (a > b) ? a : b;  // If a > b is true, max will be assigned a; otherwise max will be assigned b

    printf("The maximum value is %d\n", max);

    return 0;

}

Output:

The maximum value is 25

We can use a ternary operator anywhere, just like other statements. Let's try ternary operator in the print function itself.

Example 2 :- 

#include <stdio.h>

#include <stdbool.h>

int main() {

    int a = 15, b = 25;

    bool compare = (a < b);

    printf("Is a less than b: %s\n", compare ? "true" : "false");

    return 0;

}

Output

Is a less than b: true

Nested Ternary operator

We can have Nested Ternary operator as well. Its syntax is shown below.

variable = condition1 ? (condition2 ? expression_if_true2 : expression_if_false2) : expression_if_false1;

Explanation:

The outer ternary checks if a > b.

If true, it evaluates the nested ternary ((a > c) ? a : c). This checks if a > c. If true, it assigns a as the largest, otherwise c.

If false (i.e., b > a), it evaluates the nested ternary ((b > c) ? b : c), which checks if b > c. If true, it assigns b as the largest, otherwise c.

Example:- C program to find the largest number among three given numbers

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {

    int a = 12, b = 22, c = 15;

    // Nested ternary operator to find the largest among three numbers

    int largest = (a > b) ? ((a > c) ? a : c) : ((b > c) ? b : c);

    printf("The largest value is %d\n", largest);

    return 0;

}

Output:

The largest value is 22