What are the PHP operators “?” and “:” called and what do they do?

Question

What are the ? and : operators in PHP?

For example:

(($request_type == \'SSL\') ? HTTPS_SERVER : HTTP_SERVER)

Answer 1

As John T says, it is called a ternary operator and is essentially a shorthand version of an if /else statement. Your example, as a full if / else statement, would read;

if($request_type == 'SSL')
{
    HTTPS_SERVER;
}
else
{
    HTTP_SERVER;
}