How do I use the conditional operator?

Question

I\'ve always wondered how to write the \"A ? B : C\" syntax in a C++ compatible language.

I think it works something like: (Pseudo

Answer 1

This is called a "Ternary operator", and the ? and : are another way of writing an if-else statement.

Look at the "Example #1" in this Codepen, and un-comment it... you'll notice what it does.

Now comment "Example #1", un-comment "Example #2", and see what happens. The code does the exact same thing... but this time with only 5 lines of code. Notice how whatever appears before the ? sign is the if (conditional), and whatever comes AFTER the : is the thing to be executed.

But what if you have a conditional that requires an "else-if" (with more than 2 possible outcomes) like the one in the Codepen's "Example #3" (which adds the possibility of the user writing a specific wrong answer)? Then the ternary operator might not be as useful, but you can certainly concatenate several conditions with the ternary operator, like on this ES6 fizzbuzz example.