Ternary Operator in PHP

Let's say we have the following code that checks whether the user is already 18 years old or not:

php<?php
  $age = 17;
  
  if ($age >= 18) {
    $adult = true;
  } else {
    $adult = false;
  }
  
  var_dump($adult);
?>

As you can see, the if-else construct is only needed to write a specific value to the variable $adult. For such tasks, when in a condition we only set one variable, there is a shorter solution using the so-called ternary operator.

Its syntax is as follows:

php<?php
  variable = condition ? value1 : value2;
?>

The operator works as follows: if the condition is true, then value1 is returned, otherwise - value2. Let's rewrite the code from the very beginning of the lesson using the ternary operator:

php<?php
  $age = 17;
  $adult = $age >= 18 ? true: false;
  var_dump($adult);
?>

By the way, you can avoid writing the result to a variable and immediately output it via var_dump:

php<?php
  $age = 17;
  var_dump( $age >= 18 ? true: false );
?>

The ternary operator should only be used in the simplest cases, as its use makes the code harder to understand.