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Ternary operator in C

The ternary operator evaluates a condition and chooses one of two values based on whether that condition is true or false. It is written as condition ? true_value : false_value.

Here is a simple C script to illustrate that point:

#include <stdio.h>

// To compile this program, you can use the following command:
// gcc -o ternary_example ternary_example.c

int main() {
    // Define a simple variable to test
    int age = 20;

    // The ternary operator checks if age is 18 or older.
    // If (age >= 18) is true, it assigns "Adult" to the status pointer.
    // If (age >= 18) is false, it assigns "Minor".
    const char* status = (age >= 18) ? "Adult" : "Minor";

    // Print out the resulting status
    printf("Since the age is %d, the person is an %s.\n", age, status);

    return 0;
}

This approach replaces four lines of traditional if-else branching with a single, highly readable line of logic.

Tags: CProgramming