Conditional Operator in C (Ternary Operator in C)

Conditional Operator in C   (Ternary Operator in C)

Introduction

Conditional Operator can be used as alternative for if else Conditional statement.
Lets Understand how if else statement works.

            if(Condition)
            {
                        Block to be executed
                        if Condition becomes True;
            }
            else
            {
                        Block to be executed
                        if Condition becomes False;
            }

if Condition becomes true, First Block gets execute whereas if Condition becomes false, else block gets execute.

Conditional Operator (?:) works exactly same. Lets know how conditional operator (?:) in C works in detail.

Syntax : 

Expression1 ? Expression2 : Expression3 ;

Expression1 gets execute first, if it becomes true (Returns Non Zero) Expression 2 gets execute and becomes value of entire expression.

If Expression1 becomes false (Returns Zero) Expression 3 gets execute and becomes value of entire expression.

Here, Expression2 is replacing First Block in if else statement whereas Expression3 is replacing else block.

Conditional Operator has Three Operands in entire expression, so it is also referred as Ternary Operator.

Examples

C Program to check whether given number is even or odd.

int main()
{
int num;
printf("\n\t\t ENTER NUMBER : ");
scanf("%d",&num);

num%2==0 ? printf("%d IS EVEN",num) : printf("%d IS ODD",num);
return 0;
}

    Here num%2==0 is Expression1 which gets execute first. if it becomes true, First printf() statement before colon (:)  gets execute and will display number is even, and if Expression1 becomes false, second printf() statement after colon (:) gets execute and will display number is odd.

    In this example Conditional Operator don't have Left Hand Side variable. Sometimes situation may occur where value of entire expression need to be stored in Left Hand Side variable. This can be done in following way.
--------------------------------------------------------------
C Program to find Largest of Two Numbers.

int main()
{
int n1,n2,large;
printf("ENTER TWO NUMBERS : ");
scanf("%d%d",&n1,&n2);

large=(n1>n2) ? n1 : n2 ;

printf("LARGEST NUMBER : %d",large);
return 0;
}

Here, (n1>n2) is Expression1. if it becomes true n1 gets assign to large and if it becomes false n2 gets assign to large.

In other words, if (n1>n2) becomes true, n1 become the value of entire expression and if (n1>n2) becomes false, n2 become value of entire expression.

Nested Conditional Operator

It is also possible to have Nested Conditional Operator in C. lets know how to use nested conditional operator with simple example.

C Program to find Largest of Three Numbers.

int main()
{
int n1,n2,n3,large;
printf("\n\t\t ENTER THREE NUMBERS : ");
scanf("%d%d%d",&n1,&n2,&n3);
large=(n1>n2) ? ((n1>n3) ? n1 : n3) : ((n2>n3) ? n2 : n3) ;
printf("\n\t\t LARGEST NUMBER : %d",large);
return 0;
}

Here, (n1>n2) i.e. Expression1 gets execute first, if Expression1 becomes true, Expression2 i.e. nested Conditional operator comparing n1 and n3 gets execute . Whereas if Expression1 become false, Expression3 i.e. nested Conditional operator comparing n2 and n3 gets execute.


======== End of Article========

Thanks and Regards

Prof. Shivling G. Swami.
Head of Computer Science and Engineering, 
Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering, Mahagaon.
Whats app and Contact Number : 99 22 970 696
Click here to view my You Tube Profile

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Data Structures : Time Complexity

 Time Complexity Time complexity is a way to describe how the execution time of an algorithm increases as the size of the input grows. It is a measure of algorithm efficiency. Time complexity is usually expressed using Big O notation. ✅ Key Concepts ----------------------- Input Size (n):  Represents the amount of data the algorithm is processing.  Number of Operations:  Refers to the basic steps the algorithm takes (like comparisons, assignments, arithmetic operations, etc).  Big O Notation:  A mathematical notation used to classify algorithms based on their time complexity.  ✅ Common Time Complexities ---------- O(1): Constant Time: The algorithm takes the same amount of time regardless of the input size. Example: Accessing an element in an array by its index.  O(log n): Logarithmic Time: The runtime increases logarithmically with the input size. Example: Binary search...
Read more

If Statements in C

Image
  Decision Making/Control Statements In C Introduction Sometimes, while writing code, programmer has to take decision like, which statements or block of code to be executed and which statements or block of code to be skipped during execution. Such kind of decisions programmer can take using Decision Making Statements in C. for example if user age is above or equal to 18, user will be eligible for voting. if account balance is below minimum, user cannot withdraw money. user having multiple options and one of option has to be executed. and so on.... So, these kind of conditions decides flow of program. Decision Making Statements in C can be divided into following types 1. if statement 2. switch case statement 3. Conditional/Ternary Operator 4. goto Statement. In this Article we will see if Statements in c if Statement in C if statements are divided into following types 1. Simple if 2. if else statement 3. Nested if else statement 4. if else ladder 1. Simple if Statement : Simple...
Read more

Most Useful String Functions in Python

Image
Most Useful String Functions in Python 1. len(str) :  Returns Length of String str=input("Enter String : ") print("LENGTH OF ",str," : ",len(str)) -------------------------------------------- 2. str.upper() : Converts all characters in the string to uppercase. str=input("Enter String in Lower Case Letter : ") print(str.upper())  -------------------------------------------- 3. str.lower() : Converts all characters in the string to lowercase. str=input("Enter String in UPPER Case Letter : ") print(str.lower())   -------------------------------------------- 4. str.capitalize() : Capitalizes the first letter of the string and converts all other characters to lowercase. str=input("Enter String in lower Case Letter : ") print(str.capitalize())    -------------------------------------------- 5. str.title() : Capitalizes the first letter of each word in the string. str=input("Enter String in lowe...
Read more