If-else statement in just one line for simple text

Question

I want to write some text Year: X | percentage: $percentage%, where X is based on the value contained in $year.

$year can be 2010, 2011... but also 0. In this case, we have to write the word "All"; otherwise, the year itself.

Year: 2011 | percentage: 2%    // case $year not 0
Year: All | percentage: 2%     // case $year == 0

This code seems very long for what is required:

echo "year: ";
if ($year==0)
     echo "All";
else
     echo $year;

echo " | Percentage: $percentage%";

So I wonder: how can we make this code shorter and clearer?

_{Note I posted my own answer because I wanted to share the way I found after spending some time working on it. Anyway, I see there are other ones that look quite good.}

I'd use brackets and make it longer and easier to read. The answer below is incredibly hard to read. — Jessedc, Feb 19 '13 at 12:56
You should have posted your 'answer' in your original question and asked for other ways of doing what you were looking at doing. Your answer is the least readable. — Jessedc, Feb 19 '13 at 13:08
@mickmackusa aren't there any better canonical for ternary operators? The answer there is not very generic — fedorqui, Apr 09 '22 at 08:02
There will be tens of duplicates between SO's birth and the date of your question. If you find a better one, I am happy to change the dupe or add it to the list. — mickmackusa, Apr 09 '22 at 08:06
@mickmackusa there is no need for the duplicate to be older than mine, just one that is better. — fedorqui, Apr 09 '22 at 08:23
@fed I agree. My offer stands. Find a better one and I'll fix it up. On the other hand, do we actually need one hunder signposts for this operation? Anyhow, I am busy down a rabbit hole -- whistle blowing the `echo sprintf()` antipattern. `SELECT a.Id as [Post Link], a.CreationDate FROM Posts a INNER JOIN posts q ON q.id = a.parentid WHERE q.tags LIKE '%<##tag?php##>%' AND a.PostTypeId = 2 AND LEN(a.Body) < 300 AND a.Body LIKE '%echo sprintf(%' ORDER BY a.CreationDate ASC` — mickmackusa, Apr 09 '22 at 08:29

fedorqui · Answer 1 · 2022-04-09T08:38:51.477

3

You can use a ternary operator:

echo ( condition ? "if condition true" : "otherwise")

For this specific case:

echo "Year: ". ((0==$year) ? "All" : $year) ." | Percentage: $percentage%";

edited Apr 09 '22 at 08:38

answered Feb 19 '13 at 12:54

fedorqui

275,237
103
548
598

1

($year ? $year:'All') would make it even shorter – xCander Feb 19 '13 at 13:17

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 19 '13 at 13:00

2

Might not be a direct answer to you questions, but IMHO you should do something like:

$renderedYear = $year;
if ($year == 0) {
    $renderedYear = 'All';
}

echo 'Year: ' . $renderedYear . ' | Percentage: ' . $percentage . '%';

Always prefer readability over shortness of code. Pixels on screen are waaaay cheaper than debugging time.

Also instead of concatenating you may want to use *printf.

answered Feb 19 '13 at 13:00

PeeHaa

71,436
58
190
262

I was thinking the same thing, but as long as the OP doesn't need to reuse $year – Jessedc Feb 19 '13 at 13:01
Yeah that's a better solution. – Jessedc Feb 19 '13 at 13:03
Thanks, @PeeHaa, looks interesting although I was looking for a one-line solution. Anyway it is very clear in your answer. – fedorqui Feb 20 '13 at 09:31

Jessedc · Answer 3 · 2013-02-19T13:11:01.640

1

I would style it using sprintf() as it's far easier to read.

echo sprintf("year: %s | Percentage: %s %%", ($year == 0) ? "All" : $year, $percentage);

edited Feb 19 '13 at 13:11

answered Feb 19 '13 at 12:59

Jessedc

12,320
3
50
63

I was going to recommend the same. However, don't use `echo sprintf` when you have `printf` for the purpose :) (also, since you commented on the ease of reading, params might be easier to understand on separate lines - and further, `===` instead of `==`) – eis Feb 19 '13 at 13:01
Updated with printf. The use of `===` is up to the OP. – Jessedc Feb 19 '13 at 13:05
printf replaces the combination of echo + sprintf, now you replaced only sprintf. – eis Feb 19 '13 at 13:08
moved back to using sprint as I originally intended it. – Jessedc Feb 19 '13 at 13:13
This is a way I find interesting. I will take a look, thanks. – fedorqui Feb 20 '13 at 09:35
`echo sprintf()` is an "antipattern". There is absolutely no reason that anyone should ever write `echo sprintf()` in any code for any reason -- it should be `printf()` without `echo` every time. – mickmackusa Apr 09 '22 at 02:49

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 19 '13 at 13:12

1

I am sorry if this doesnt work (cant test it right now) but in C (which is somewhat similar to php) you can negate numbers directly, i belive you could also use:

echo "Year: ". (!$year ? "All" : $year) ." | Percentage: $percentage%";

answered Feb 19 '13 at 13:12

Kyborek

1,519
11
20

1

It worked, @Kyborek! I think it is a very nice way of showing it. In fact, could also be writen like `($year ? $year:'All')`, as someone exposed in a comment above. – fedorqui Feb 20 '13 at 09:33
We can meta think your sentence "no negation == afirming"! : ) – fedorqui Feb 20 '13 at 14:06

If-else statement in just one line for simple text

4 Answers4