nested shorthand if

Question

I have a little trouble with a shorthanded if statement I can't figure out

($product == "vindo") ? $this->getNextVindoInList($id) : $this->getNextGandrupInList($id),

This works fine but I want to have another check in that statement. Like this:

if($product == "vindo") {
  if($number != 14) {
    $this->getNextVindoInList($id)
  }
} else {
 if($number != 22) {
    $this->getNextGandrupInList($id)
 }
}

Be careful, too much use will result in harder to read code!!! There is also minimal performance gain from it, it's neither faster or slower. — Brian, Sep 20 '12 at 12:42

Travesty3 · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-16T19:40:40.863

For educational purposes, I will leave this answer intact. But it should be known that this is NOT RECOMMENDED. Nesting ternaries is a bad idea. It provides no performance benefit over explicit if-else statements and makes the code much more difficult to read.

That said, see below for how it can, but should not be done.

Two ways:

($product == "vindo" && $number != 14 ? $this->getNextVindoInList($id) : ($number != 22 ? $this->getNextGandrupInList($id) : '')

// Equivalent of:
if ($product == "vindo" && $number != 14)
    $this->getNextVindoInList($id);
else if ($number != 22)
    $this->getNextGandrupInList($id);

// OR

// Equivalent of your example:
($product == "vindo" ? ($number != 14 ? $this->getNextVindoInList($id) : '') : ($number != 22 ? $this->getNextGandrupInList($id) : ''))

This is old. But someone just upvoted it, which made me come look at it, and want to slap my former self for even presenting this as a good idea. Please avoid nested ternaries. They are unnecessarily difficult to read. — Travesty3, Aug 23 '15 at 04:12

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 20 '12 at 12:38

3

Try this!

($product == "vindo") ? ($number != 14 ? $this->getNextVindoInList($id) : null ) : (($number != 22) ? $this->getNextGandrupInList($id) : null)

answered Sep 20 '12 at 12:38

Zevi Sternlicht

5,399
19
31

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 20 '12 at 12:51

2

I will not present a solution with a nested ternary operator. Why? The code with the explicit if/else structure communicates intent. It shows what exactly is happening.

Why sacrifice readability for a few lines? That's quite a bad trade.

answered Sep 20 '12 at 12:51

phant0m

16,595
5
50
82

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 20 '12 at 12:47

Your if statements can be simplefied by using this code:

if($product == "vindo" && $number != 14) {
  $this->getNextVindoInList($id)
} else if($number != 22) {
  $this->getNextGandrupInList($id)
}

The sorthand if isnt handy now because the else has an if statement too.

nested shorthand if

4 Answers4