Ternary operator in Java

The ternary operator is a part of Java’s conditional statements. As the name ternary suggests, it is the only operator in Java consisting of three operands.

The ternary operator can be thought of as a simplified version of the if-else statement with a value to be returned.

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Syntax

The three operands in a ternary operator include:

  • A boolean expression that evaluates to either true or false.
  • A value to be assigned if the expression is evaluated to true.
  • A value to be assigned if the expression is evaluated to false.
variable var = (booleanExpression) ? value1 if true : value2 if false

The variable var on the left-hand side of the = (assignment) operator will be assigned:

  • value1 if the booleanExpression evaluates to true
  • value2 if the booleanExpression evaluates to false

Example

Let’s write a Java program to check if an integer is even or odd.

Using if-else

class CheckEvenNumber {
  public static void main( String args[] ) {
    int number = 3;
    if(number % 2 == 0)
    {
      System.out.println("The number is even!");
    }
    else
    {
      System.out.println("The number is odd!");
    }
  }
}

This was easy! Right? So, let’s achieve the same functionality using the Ternary operator.

Using ternary operator

class CheckEvenNumber {
  public static void main( String args[] ) {
    int number = 3;
    String msg =  (number % 2 == 0) ? "The number is even!" : "The number is odd!";
    System.out.println(msg);
  }
}

Note: Every code using if-else statement cannot be replaced with the ternary operator.

Explanation

The above code is using the ternary operator to find if a number is even or odd.

  • msg will be assigned “The number is even!” if the condition (number % 2 == 0) is true.
  • msg will be assigned “The number is odd!” if the condition (number % 2 == 0) is false.

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