PHP Ternary Expression / If Statement

Question

I'm learning ternary expressions in PHP and was wondering if someone could verify that the following two blocks of code are the same as far as what is the outcome?

$caption = $_POST['caption'] == '' ? NULL : $_POST['caption'];

Is the above the same as the below?

if ( $_POST['caption'] == '' ) {
    $caption = NULL;
}
else {
    $caption = $_POST['caption'];
}

Condition is okay. Make sure **caption** key is exist in $_POST. use empty function. — Ravi Hirani, Aug 12 '16 at 04:11

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 12 '16 at 04:10

2

Yes they are same.

$vn = condition ? expression1:expression2;

is same as

if(condition) {
    $vn = expression1;
}
else {
   $vn = expression2;
}

answered Aug 12 '16 at 04:10

javaDeveloper

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Thank you, this is what I was looking for. – GTS Joe Aug 12 '16 at 05:40

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

0

Your condition is okay. but make sure that you have caption key in $_POST array.

$caption = empty($_POST['caption']) ? NULL : $_POST['caption'];

OR

$caption = (isset($_POST['caption']) && $_POST['caption'] == '') ? $_POST['caption'] : NULL;

empty or isset functions are useful in that case.

$a = '';
var_dump(isset($a));      // TRUE
var_dump(empty($a));      // TRUE

isset() and empty() - what to use

edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

Community

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answered Aug 12 '16 at 04:15

Ravi Hirani

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Like this? $caption = isset($_POST['caption']) == '' ? NULL : $_POST['caption']; – GTS Joe Aug 12 '16 at 04:31
Why would you need to check if $_POST['caption'] is set? If $_POST['caption'] = '' (empty string) doesn't that automatically mean it is set? – GTS Joe Aug 12 '16 at 04:48
if caption key is **not exist** in $_POST array and if you write condition as **$_POST['caption'] == ''** then it will give you an **error**. – Ravi Hirani Aug 12 '16 at 04:55
I copied and pasted your code in my script and I still get the error: Notice: Undefined index: caption. – GTS Joe Aug 12 '16 at 05:06
Write your condition this way:- $caption = (isset($_POST['caption']) && $_POST['caption'] == '') ? $_POST['caption'] : NULL; – Ravi Hirani Aug 12 '16 at 05:20

PHP Ternary Expression / If Statement

2 Answers2