Java syntax if and else function

Question

This may be a very stupid question, but what does this line in java mean?

Seat tempSeat = rowClass ? allSeatsC[i][j] : allSeatsE[i][j];

I know it has something to do with an if function but I was trying to re-write it with if. But I just cannot figure out how does it work.

This is called the conditional operator. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2615498/java-conditional-operator-result-type for more. — Marius Bancila, Mar 20 '14 at 11:05
possible duplicate of [Question mark and colon mean in statement? what does it mean?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6957214/question-mark-and-colon-mean-in-statement-what-does-it-mean) — Scott Solmer, Mar 20 '14 at 11:06

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 20 '14 at 11:07

0

Seat tempSeat;
if(rowClass)
    tempSeat=allSeatsC[i][j];
else
    tempSeat=allSeatsE[i][j]

edited Mar 20 '14 at 11:07

Barmar

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answered Mar 20 '14 at 11:05

Dev

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 20 '14 at 11:05

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Its called a ternary or "elvis" operator. Basically an in-line if statement

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%3F:#Java (link gets broken by formatter)

These are really handy for simple tests like the one above.

answered Mar 20 '14 at 11:05

Geoff Williams

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Kayla · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-20T11:15:50.477

0

The ? is a ternary operator.

It is similar to an if-else statement, but it would return the expression between the ? and the :, if the first expression is true, otherwise, it returns the last expression.

Seat tempSeat = rowClass ? allSeatsC[i][j] : allSeatsE[i][j];

is equivalent to

Seat tempSeat;
if(rowClass){
    tempSeat = allSeatsC[i][j];
}else{
    tempSeat = allSeatsE[i][j];
}

edited Mar 20 '14 at 11:15

answered Mar 20 '14 at 11:09

Kayla

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Java syntax if and else function

3 Answers3