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javascriptconditional-operator

What is "(…) ? (…) : (…)" notation (three expressions delimited by question mark and colon) in JavaScript?

I found this snippet of code in my travels in researching JSON:

var array = typeof objArray != 'object' ? JSON.parse(objArray) : objArray;

I'm seeing more and more of the ? and : notation. I don't even know what it is called to look it up! Can anyone point me to a good resource for this? (btw, I know what != means).

Solution

  • It's called a Conditional (ternary) Operator. It's essentially a condensed if-else.

    So this:

    var array = typeof objArray != 'object' ? JSON.parse(objArray) : objArray;

    ...is the same as this:

    var array;
if (typeof objArray != 'object') {
    array = JSON.parse(objArray);
} else {
    array = objArray;
}