Java Short Hand If...Else (Ternary Operator)

Short Hand if...else

There is also a short-hand if else, which is known as the ternary operator because it consists of three operands.

It can be used to replace multiple lines of code with a single line, and is most often used to replace simple if else statements:

variable = (condition) ? expressionTrue :  expressionFalse;

Instead of writing:

int time = 20;
if (time < 18) {
  System.out.println("Good day.");
} else {
  System.out.println("Good evening.");
}

You can simply write:

int time = 20;
String result = (time < 18) ? "Good day." : "Good evening.";
System.out.println(result);

You can also use the ternary operator directly inside System.out.println() without a temporary variable:

int time = 20;
System.out.println((time < 18) ? "Good day." : "Good evening.");

Nested Ternary (Optional)

You can nest ternary operators to handle more than two possible outcomes, but this can make your code harder to read:

int time = 22;
String message = (time < 12) ? "Good morning."
               : (time < 18) ? "Good afternoon."
               : "Good evening.";
System.out.println(message);