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- Reference — What does this symbol mean in PHP? 18 answers
What does ?:
in this line mean?
$_COOKIE['user'] ?: getusername($_COOKIE['user']);
Thank you.
This question already has an answer here:
What does ?:
in this line mean?
$_COOKIE['user'] ?: getusername($_COOKIE['user']);
Thank you.
It is a shorthand for an if
statement.
$username = $_COOKIE['user'] ?: getusername($_COOKIE['user']);
Is the same as
if( $_COOKIE['user'] )
{
$username = $_COOKIE['user'];
}
else
{
$username = getusername($_COOKIE['user']);
}
see test suite here: https://3v4l.org/6XMc4
But in this example, the function 'getusername' probably doesn't work correct, because it hits the else
only when $_COOKIE['user']
is empty
. So, the parameter inside getusername()
is also kind of empty.
It is short hand php, for example:
(true == true ? echo "this is true" : "this is false")
Written out this means:
if (true == true) {
echo "This is true";
}
else {
echo "This is false";
}
In your example, there is only an else statement.
It's known as the ternary operator, similar to what's commonly called an inline if. For instance, the following two examples:
a) $genderString = $genderAbbreviation == "M" ? "Male" : "Female";
b)
if ($genderAbbreviation == "M")
{
$genderString = "Male";
}
else
{
$genderString = "Female";
}
Both of these will have the same effect. The statement before the question mark is evaluated to be either true or false, and then if true the statement before the colon is executed, and if false the statement after the colon is executed.
For more information you can check the section titled "Ternary Operator" on the following page of the PHP documentation:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.operators.comparison.php
if $_COOKIE['user']
value is exist then NULL
else getusername($_COOKIE['user']
will work
it's a ternary operator in php