This is a one-line shorthand for an if-else statement. It’s called the conditional operator.1
Here is an example of code that could be shortened with the conditional operator:
var userType;
if (userIsYoungerThan18) {
userType = “Minor”;
} else {
userType = “Adult”;
}
if (userIsYoungerThan21) {
serveDrink(“Grape Juice”);
} else {
serveDrink(“Wine”);
}
This can be shortened with the ?: like so:
var userType = userIsYoungerThan18 ? “Minor” : “Adult”;
serveDrink(userIsYoungerThan21 ? “Grape Juice” : “Wine”);
Like all expressions, the conditional operator can also be used as a standalone statement with side-effects, though this is unusual outside of minification:
userIsYoungerThan21 ? serveGrapeJuice() : serveWine();
They can even be chained:
serveDrink(userIsYoungerThan4 ? ‘Milk’ : userIsYoungerThan21 ? ‘Grape Juice’ : ‘Wine’);
Be careful, though, or you will end up with convoluted code like this:
var k = a ? (b ? (c ? d : e) : (d ? e : f)) : f ? (g ? h : i) : j;
1 Often called “the ternary operator,” but in fact it’s just a ternary operator [an operator accepting three operands]. It’s the only one JavaScript currently has, though.
I want to add some to the given answers.
In case you encounter (or want to use) a ternary in a situation like ‘display a variable if it’s set, else…’, you can make it even shorter, without a ternary.
Instead of:
var welcomeMessage = ‘Hello ‘ + (username ? username : ‘guest’);
You can use:
var welcomeMessage = ‘Hello ‘ + (username || ‘guest’);
This is Javascripts equivallent of PHP’s shorthand ternary operator ?:
Or even:
var welcomeMessage = ‘Hello ‘ + (username || something || maybethis || ‘guest’);
It evaluates the variable, and if it’s false or unset, it goes on to the next.