What does this line syntax heavy line of code mean?

Question

I am working on a project where I found a syntax heavy line of code in it

logonuser = logonuser.IndexOf(domain) >= 0 ? logonuser : domain + "\\" + logonuser;

Both logonuser and domain are Strings. I need an explanation of what it is and how does it work?

It's assigning a value of `logonuser` to itself if the domain is found in the string, otherwise it is prepending the domain and assigning it to `logonuser`. — Jane S, Oct 02 '14 at 03:23
possible duplicate of [Benefits of using the conditional ?: (ternary) operator](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3312786/benefits-of-using-the-conditional-ternary-operator) — John Kugelman, Oct 02 '14 at 03:23

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 02 '14 at 03:22

3

this is the ternary operator

it's like saying:

if(logonuser.IndexOf(domain) >= 0)
{
     logonuser = logonuser;
}
else
{
     logonuser = domain + "\\" + logonuser;
}

answered Oct 02 '14 at 03:22

RadioSpace

1

Although if you wrote it in verbose format, you would only write the else case :) – Jane S Oct 02 '14 at 03:25

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 02 '14 at 03:25

As others already stated, that's the ternary operator. The explanation of the code besides the fact that is using this operator is:

If longuser is a "absolute"(*) url containing the domain, then use it without changing it.
else (longuser is a relative url) build a absolute url using the domain

(*) Not really absolute without the protocol

2 Answers2