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

With C#6 there is a slightly shorter way for the case where planRec.approved_by is not a string:

this.approved_by = planRec.approved_by?.ToString() ?? "";