isset PHP isset($_GET['something']) ? $_GET['something'] : ''

Question

I am looking to expand on my PHP knowledge, and I came across something I am not sure what it is or how to even search for it. I am looking at php.net isset code, and I see

Answer 1

That's called a ternary operator and it's mainly used in place of an if-else statement.

In the example you gave it can be used to retrieve a value from an array given isset returns true

isset($_GET['something']) ? $_GET['something'] : ''

is equivalent to

if (isset($_GET['something'])) {
  $_GET['something'];
} else {
  '';
}

Of course it's not much use unless you assign it to something, and possibly even assign a default value for a user submitted value.

$username = isset($_GET['username']) ? $_GET['username'] : 'anonymous'

Answer 2

It's commonly referred to as 'shorthand' or the Ternary Operator.

$test = isset($_GET['something']) ? $_GET['something'] : '';

means

if(isset($_GET['something'])) {
    $test = $_GET['something'];
} else {
    $test = '';
}

To break it down:

$test = ... // assign variable
isset(...) // test
? ... // if test is true, do ... (equivalent to if)
: ... // otherwise... (equivalent to else)

Or...

// test --v
if(isset(...)) { // if test is true, do ... (equivalent to ?)
    $test = // assign variable
} else { // otherwise... (equivalent to :)