The
(condition) ? /* value to return if condition is true */ : /* value to return if condition is false */ ;
syntax is not a “shorthand if” operator (the ?
is called the conditional operator) because you cannot execute code in the same manner as if you did:
if (condition) { /* condition is true, do something like echo */ } else { /* condition is false, do something else */ }
In your example, you are executing the echo
statement when the $address
is not empty. You can’t do this the same way with the conditional operator. What you can do however, is echo
the result of the conditional operator:
echo empty($address['street2']) ? "Street2 is empty!" : $address['street2'];
and this will display “Street is empty!” if it is empty, otherwise it will display the street2 address.