Conditional (Trinary) Operator (?:)

See Also

Description

Executes one of two expressions depending on a condition.

Syntax

test ? expression1 : expression2

The ?: operator syntax has these parts:

Part	Description
test	Any Boolean expression.
expression1	An expression executed if test is true.
expression2	An expression executed if test is false.

Remarks

The ?: operator is a shortcut for an if...else statement. It is typically used as part of a larger expression where an if...else statement would be awkward. For example:

var now = new Date();
var greeting = "Good" + ((now.getHours() > 17) ? " evening." : " day.");

The example creates a string containing "Good evening." if it is after 6pm. The equivalent code using an if...else statement would look as follows:

var now = new Date();
var greeting = "Good";
if (now.getHours() > 17)
   greeting += " evening.";
else
   greeting += " day.";