Conditional (Ternary) Operator in JavaScript

Conditional or ternary operator in JavaScript takes three operands, used as an alternative to if...else. For example:

HTML with JavaScript Code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
   
   <script>
      let x = 10, y = 20;
      document.write("Largest = ");
      x>y ? document.write(x) : document.write(y);
   </script>
   
</body>
</html>

Output

The same JavaScript code can also be written as:

<script>
   let x = 10, y = 20;
   x>y ? document.write("Largest = ", x) : document.write("Largest = ", y);
</script>

And here is another way, the same program/example can be written:

<script>
   let x = 10, y = 20, large;
   large = x>y ? x : y;
   document.write("Largest = ", large);
</script>

JavaScript Ternary Operator (?:) Syntax

The syntax of ternary operator in JavaScript, is:

condition ? evaluateIfTrue : evaluateIfFalse

That is, if the condition evaluates to be True, then the whole expression replaced with evaluateIfTrue, otherwise replaced with evaluateIfFalse. For example:

20==20 ? document.write("Both numbers are equal") : document.write("Both numbers are not equal")

Since the condition 20==20 evaluates to be true, therefore the first expression gets executed, that is:

document.write("Both numbers are equal")

will be executed, and Both numbers are equal will be displayed on the output.

Nested Ternary Operator in JavaScript

To understand nested ternary operator in JavaScript, the best and simple example that I can show you is, finding the largest of three numbers using ternary operator:

HTML with JavaScript Code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
   
   <script>
      let a = 10, b = 20, c = 30, large;
      large = (a>b) ? ((b>c) ? (a) : (c>a ? c : a)) : (b>c ? b : c);
      document.write("Largest = ", large);
   </script>
   
</body>
</html>

Output

In above example, the following expression:

(a>b) ? ((b>c) ? (a) : (c>a ? c : a)) : (b>c ? b : c);

will be evaluated in a way that:

First the condition (a>b) gets evaluated
Since the condition (a>b) or (10>20) evaluates to be false
Therefore, (b>c ? b : c) replaced the whole expression
Now the condition b>c gets evaluated
Since the condition b>c or 20>30 evaluates to be false
Therefore, c replaced the whole expression
Since the value of c is 30, therefore 30 gets initialized to large variable

JavaScript Online Test

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