Short PHP IF-Else Statements (Shorthand IF)
Funny thing is I have been working in PHP for years, but only with the prevalence of CMS’s have I required short code for PHP, I have always just typed things out in full. These shortened PHP conditional statements are called ternary operators, and I find them most useful when popping code into a CMS code block, otherwise I generally code stuff in full for legibility.
If you look at the PHP manual they give you the following alternative syntax which is really not that compact:
<?php
## all examples start with $x having a value of 3 ##
if ($x == 3):
echo "X is equal to 3";
else:
echo "X is not equal to 3";
endif;
?>
And that if and elseif … endif structure is fine, but what about one line alternative code for a PHP if statement:
<?php if ($x == 3): echo "X is equal to 3"; else: echo "X is not equal to 3"; endif; ?>
But still this is not that efficient, the following two versions give nice compact code the first for just printing the value:
<?php echo ($x == 3)? "X is equal to 3" : "X is not equal to 3"; ?>
and the second allocates the string value to $y, dependent on the short if statement, and then prints:
<?php $y = ($x == 3)? "X is equal to 3" : "X is not equal to 3" ; ?>
<?php echo $y ; ?>
And of course if all you want to do is print one thing’s value dependant on its not being blank or zero:
<?php echo ($z)? $z : "" ; ?>
Nice short if statement, have I missed anything?
The PHP manual does have a couple of points if you scroll down on this page. The most notable is “avoid “stacking” ternary expressions”; if you want your code to be readable dont nest ternary conditional statements.
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