Conditional Operator in C Language
Categories: C language
The conditional operator is also known as a ternary operator. The conditional statements are the decision-making statements which depends upon the output of the expression. It is represented by two symbols, i.e., '?' and ':'.
As conditional operator works on three operands, so it is also known as the ternary operator.
The behavior of the conditional operator is similar to the 'if-else' statement as 'if-else' statement is also a decision-making statement.
Syntax of a conditional operator
Expression1? expression2: expression3;
Meaning of the above syntax.
1. In the above syntax, the expression1 is a Boolean condition that can be either true or false value.
2. If the expression1 results into a true value, then the expression2 will execute.
3. The expression2 is said to be true only when it returns a non-zero value.
4. If the expression1 returns false value then the expression3 will execute.
5. The expression3 is said to be false only when it returns zero value.
In the above code, we are taking input as the 'age' of the user. After taking input, we have applied the condition by using a conditional operator. In this condition, we are checking the age of the user. If the age of the user is greater than or equal to 18, then the statement1 will execute, i.e., (printf("eligible for voting")) otherwise, statement2 will execute, i.e., (printf("not eligible for voting")).
Till now, we have observed that how conditional operator checks the condition and based on condition, it executes the statements. Now, we will see how a conditional operator is used to assign the value to a variable.
1. A conditional operator is a single programming statement, while the 'if-else' statement is a programming block in which statements come under the parenthesis.
2. A conditional operator can also be used for assigning a value to the variable, whereas the 'if-else' statement cannot be used for the assignment purpose.
3. It is not useful for executing the statements when the statements are multiple, whereas the 'if-else' statement proves more suitable when executing multiple statements.
4. The nested ternary operator is more complex and cannot be easily debugged, while the nested 'if-else' statement is easy to read and maintain.