Java Ternary Operator with Examples

Operators constitute the basic building block to any programming language. Java too provides many types of operators which can be used according to the need to perform various calculations and functions, be it logical, arithmetic, relational, etc. They are classified based on the functionality they provide. Here are a few types: 

1. Arithmetic Operators
2. Unary Operators
3. Assignment Operator
4. Relational Operators
5. Logical Operators
6. Ternary Operator
7. Bitwise Operators
8. Shift Operators

This article explains all that one needs to know regarding Arithmetic Operators. 

Ternary Operator

Java ternary operator is the only conditional operator that takes three operands. It’s a one-liner replacement for the if-then-else statement and is used a lot in Java programming. We can use the ternary operator in place of if-else conditions or even switch conditions using nested ternary operators. Although it follows the same algorithm as of if-else statement, the conditional operator takes less space and helps to write the if-else statements in the shortest way possible.

Syntax:

variable = Expression1 ? Expression2: Expression3

If operates similarly to that of the if-else statement as in Exression2 is executed if Expression1 is true else Expression3 is executed.  

if(Expression1)
{
    variable = Expression2;
}
else
{
    variable = Expression3;
}

Example:

num1 = 10;
num2 = 20;

res=(num1>num2) ? (num1+num2):(num1-num2)

Since num1<num2, 
the second operation is performed
res = num1-num2 = -10

Flowchart of Ternary Operation  

Example 1:

Java

// Java program to find largest among two
// numbers using ternary operator

import java.io.*;

class Ternary {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {

        // variable declaration
        int n1 = 5, n2 = 10, max;

        System.out.println("First num: " + n1);
        System.out.println("Second num: " + n2);

        // Largest among n1 and n2
        max = (n1 > n2) ? n1 : n2;

        // Print the largest number
        System.out.println("Maximum is = " + max);
    }
}

Output

First num: 5
Second num: 10
Maximum is = 10

Time Complexity: O(1)
Auxiliary Space: O(1)

Example 2:

Java

// Java code to illustrate ternary operator

import java.io.*;

class Ternary {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {

        // variable declaration
        int n1 = 5, n2 = 10, res;

        System.out.println("First num: " + n1);
        System.out.println("Second num: " + n2);

        // Performing ternary operation
        res = (n1 > n2) ? (n1 + n2) : (n1 - n2);

        // Print the largest number
        System.out.println("Result = " + res);
    }
}

Output

First num: 5
Second num: 10
Result = -5

Time Complexity: O(1)
Auxiliary Space: O(1)