conditional operator in ruby

Conditional Operator in Ruby

The conditional operator in Ruby is a shorthand way of writing an if-else statement. It allows you to write a concise expression that evaluates a condition and returns one of two values based on the result of the condition.

The syntax of the conditional operator in Ruby is as follows:

condition ? value_if_true : value_if_false

Here's an explanation of each step involved in using the conditional operator:

  1. The condition is evaluated. It can be any expression that returns a boolean value (true or false).
  2. If the condition is true, the value specified before the : is returned.
  3. If the condition is false, the value specified after the : is returned.

Let's consider an example to illustrate the usage of the conditional operator in Ruby:

age = 20
message = age >= 18 ? "You are an adult" : "You are not an adult"
puts message

In this example, the condition age >= 18 is evaluated. If the condition is true (which it is in this case), the value "You are an adult" is assigned to the variable message. If the condition is false, the value "You are not an adult" is assigned to message. Finally, the value of message is printed, which in this case would be "You are an adult".

The conditional operator is a useful tool for writing concise and readable code when you have simple if-else conditions. However, it's important to use it judiciously and consider readability and maintainability when using it in more complex scenarios.

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