Demonstrate Ternary Operator in Java
beginner· Basics & I/O · Operators
Problem
The ternary operator (condition ? valueIfTrue : valueIfFalse) is Java's only operator that takes three operands, letting a simple if-else that just assigns a value be written as one expression instead of four lines.
Given two integers, use the ternary operator to determine and print the larger one.
Input
10, 20
Output
Larger: 20
Java Program
Java
public class DemonstrateTernaryOperator {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int a = 10;
int b = 20;
int larger = (a > b) ? a : b; // picks a if the condition is true, otherwise b
System.out.println("Larger: " + larger);
}
}Output
Larger: 20
Core Logic
The ternary operator evaluates the condition once and immediately produces one of two values, without needing a separate variable declared outside an if-else block.
How It Works
- 1
a > bis the condition — it's evaluated first. - 2If the condition is
true, the whole expression evaluates to the value right after?, which isa. - 3If the condition is
false, the expression evaluates to the value after:instead, which isb. - 4Since
a = 10andb = 20,a > bisfalse, so the whole expression evaluates tob,20.
For
a = 10 and b = 20: a > b is false, so (a > b) ? a : b evaluates to 20.💡
Key Point: (a > b) ? a : b is exactly equivalent to if (a > b) { result = a; } else { result = b; } — the ternary form is shorter only because both branches do nothing but produce a value.
Key Concepts
ternary operator? : operatorconditional expression