The ternary (conditional) operator in C

In C, the real utility of it is that it's an expression instead of a statement; that is, you can have it on the right-hand side (RHS) of a statement. So you can write certain things more concisely.

Some of the other answers given are great. But I am surprised that no one mentioned that it can be used to help enforce const correctness in a compact way.

Something like this:

const int n = (x != 0) ? 10 : 20;

so basically n is a const whose initial value is dependent on a condition statement. The easiest alternative is to make n not a const, this would allow an ordinary if to initialize it. But if you want it to be const, it cannot be done with an ordinary if. The best substitute you could make would be to use a helper function like this:

int f(int x) {
    if(x != 0) { return 10; } else { return 20; }
}

const int n = f(x);

but the ternary if version is far more compact and arguably more readable.

The ternary operator is a syntactic and readability convenience, not a performance shortcut. People are split on the merits of it for conditionals of varying complexity, but for short conditions, it can be useful to have a one-line expression.

Moreover, since it's an expression, as Charlie Martin wrote, that means it can appear on the right-hand side of a statement in C. This is valuable for being concise.

It's crucial for code obfuscation, like this:

Look->       See?!

No
:(
Oh, well
);

Compactness and the ability to inline an if-then-else construct into an expression.

There are a lot of things in C that aren't technically needed because they can be more or less easily implemented in terms of other things. Here is an incomplete list:

1. while
2. for
3. functions
4. structs

Imagine what your code would look like without these and you may find your answer. The ternary operator is a form of "syntactic sugar" that if used with care and skill makes writing and understanding code easier.

Sometimes the ternary operator is the best way to get the job done. In particular when you want the result of the ternary to be an l-value.

This is not a good example, but I'm drawing a blank on somethign better. One thing is certian, it is not often when you really need to use the ternary, although I still use it quite a bit.

const char* appTitle  = amDebugging ? "DEBUG App 1.0" : "App v 1.0";

One thing I would warn against though is stringing ternaries together. They become a real
problem at maintennance time:

int myVal = aIsTrue ? aVal : bIsTrue ? bVal : cIsTrue ? cVal : dVal;

EDIT: Here's a potentially better example. You can use the ternary operator to assign references & const values where you would otherwise need to write a function to handle it:

int getMyValue()
{
  if( myCondition )
    return 42;
  else
    return 314;
}

const int myValue = getMyValue();

...could become:

const int myValue = myCondition ? 42 : 314;

Which is better is a debatable question that I will choose not to debate.

Since no one has mentioned this yet, about the only way to get smart printf statements is to use the ternary operator:

printf("%d item%s", count, count > 1 ? "s\n" : "\n");

Caveat: There are some differences in operator precedence when you move from C to C++ and may be surprised by the subtle bug(s) that arise thereof.

The fact that the ternary operator is an expression, not a statement, allows it to be used in macro expansions for function-like macros that are used as part of an expression. Const may not have been part of original C, but the macro pre-processor goes way back.

One place where I've seen it used is in an array package that used macros for bound-checked array accesses. The syntax for a checked reference was something like aref(arrayname, type, index), where arrayname was actually a pointer to a struct that included the array bounds and an unsigned char array for the data, type was the actual type of the data, and index was the index. The expansion of this was quite hairy (and I'm not going to do it from memory), but it used some ternary operators to do the bound checking.

You can't do this as a function call in C because of the need for polymorphism of the returned object. So a macro was needed to do the type casting in the expression. In C++ you could do this as a templated overloaded function call (probably for operator[]), but C doesn't have such features.

Edit: Here's the example I was talking about, from the Berkeley CAD array package (glu 1.4 edition). The documentation of the array_fetch usage is:

type
array_fetch(type, array, position)
typeof type;
array_t *array;
int position;

Fetch an element from an array. A runtime error occurs on an attempt to reference outside the bounds of the array. There is no type-checking that the value at the given position is actually of the type used when dereferencing the array.

and here is the macro defintion of array_fetch (note the use of the ternary operator and the comma sequencing operator to execute all the subexpressions with the right values in the right order as part of a single expression):

#define array_fetch(type, a, i)         \
(array_global_index = (i),              \
  (array_global_index >= (a)->num) ? array_abort((a),1) : 0,\
  *((type *) ((a)->space + array_global_index * (a)->obj_size)))

The expansion for array_insert ( which grows the array if necessary, like a C++ vector) is even hairier, involving multiple nested ternary operators.

It's syntatic sugar and a handy shorthand for brief if/else blocks that only contain one statement. Functionally, both constructs should perform identically.

• Some of the more obscure operators in C exist solely because they allow implementation of various function-like macros as a single expression that returns a result. I would say that this is the main purpose why the ?: and , operators are allowed to exist, even though their functionality is otherwise redundant.

  Lets say we wish to implement a function-like macro that returns the largest of two parameters. It would then be called as for example:

  int x = LARGEST(1,2);
  

  The only way to implement this as a function-like macro would be

  #define LARGEST(x,y) ((x) > (y) ? (x) : (y))
  

  It wouldn't be possible with an if ... else statement, since it does not return a result value. ^Note)

• The other purpose of ?: is that it in some cases actually increases readability. Most often if...else is more readable, but not always. Take for example long, repetitive switch statements:

  switch(something)
  {
    case A: 
      if(x == A)
      {
        array[i] = x;
      }
      else
      {
        array[i] = y;
      }
      break;
  
    case B: 
      if(x == B)
      {
        array[i] = x;
      }
      else
      {
        array[i] = y;
      }
      break;
    ...
  }
  

  This can be replaced with the far more readable

  switch(something)
  {
    case A: array[i] = (x == A) ? x : y; break;
    case B: array[i] = (x == B) ? x : y; break;
    ...
  }
  

• Please note that ?: does never result in faster code than if-else. That's some strange myth created by confused beginners. In case of optimized code, ?: gives identical performance as if-else in the vast majority of the cases.

  If anything, ?: can be slower than if-else, because it comes with mandatory implicit type promotions, even of the operand which is not going to be used. But ?: can never be faster than if-else.

^Note) Now of course someone will argue and wonder why not use a function. Indeed if you can use a function, it is always preferable over a function-like macro. But sometimes you can't use functions. Suppose for example that x in the example above is declared at file scope. The initializer must then be a constant expression, so it cannot contain a function call. Other practical examples of where you have to use function-like macros involve type safe programming with _Generic or "X macros".

ternary = simple form of if-else. It is available mostly for readability.