Quick explanation of code line

Question

motion *= (Mathf.Abs(inputVec.x) == 1)?.7f:1;

as far as i know, the line means, that variable motion gets multiplied by the absolute value of x part of vector inputVec, but i don't understand what happens next.

Answer 1

If the condition Mathf.Abs(inputVec.x) == 1 is true, then motion is multiplied by .7f. Otherwise by 1.

The question mark is the conditional operator. It is a compact way to write an if else statement.

For, instance this:

if(Mathf.Abs(inputVec.x) == 1)
{
    motion *= .7f;
}
else
{
    motion *= .5f; 
}

is equivalent to this:

motion *= (Mathf.Abs(inputVec.x) == 1)?.7f:.5f;

So you can write one line of code instead of 8 !

Answer 2

• the ?:operator is a short way for a if/else it's called conditional operator

• the *= operator is the shortcut for x = x * 1, explained here

• Math.Abs() returns the absolute value for a given value

• 0.7f - the f is a suffix that declares the value as a float type

so..

motion *= (Mathf.Abs(inputVec.x) == 1)?.7f:1;

equals

if (Mathf.Abs(inputVec.x) == 1)) //if inputVec.x equals 1 or -1
{
    motion = motion * 0.7;
}
else
{
    motion = motion * 1;
}