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Short Hand if...else

There is also a short-hand if else , which is known as the ternary operator because it consists of three operands.

It can be used to replace multiple lines of code with a single line, and is most often used to replace simple if else statements:

Syntax

variable = ( condition ) ? expressionTrue
: expressionFalse ;

Example

int time = 20;
if (time < 18) {
  System.out.println("Good day.");
} else {
System.out.println("Good evening.");
}

Example

int time = 20;
String result = (time < 18) ? "Good day." : "Good evening.";
System.out.println(result);

You can simply write

You can also use the ternary operator directly inside System.out.println() without a temporary variable:

Example

int time = 20;
System.out.println((time < 18) ? "Good day." : "Good evening.");

You can nest ternary operators to handle more than two possible outcomes, but this can make your code harder to read:

Example

int time = 22;
String message = (time < 12) ? "Good morning."
: (time < 18) ? "Good afternoon."
: "Good evening.";
System.out.println(message);

Tip

Use the ternary operator for short, simple choices. For longer or more complex logic, the regular if...else is easier to read.