Shortest way to check for null and assign another value if not

Question

I am pulling varchar values out of a DB and want to set the string I am assigning them to as \"\" if they are null. I\'m currently doi

Answer 1

You are looking for the C# coalesce operator: ??. This operator takes a left and right argument. If the left hand side of the operator is null or a nullable with no value it will return the right argument. Otherwise it will return the left.

var x = somePossiblyNullValue ?? valueIfNull;