In addition to the enlarged if – else statement that you will use in most cases, there is also a short structure for an if – else statement. This format uses the so-called “ternary operator ‘. The syntax of this shorthand structure is as follows:

<?php $var = condition ? true : false;

1. Condition = The condition which must be met.
2. True = Executed if the condition is met.
3. False = Executed if the condition failes.

Thus, the above statement means the same as this enlarged structure:

<?php

if (condition) {

    $var = true;

} else {

    $var = false;

}

?>

Examples

Let’s take a look at some example.

Filled in a name?

<?php

$name = isset($_POST['name'])?$_POST['name']:'Unknown';

// If $_POST['name'] exists, we use that for the name, else we use Unknown.

?>

We can also use it to easily echo stuff:

<?php

$fruit = 'apple';

echo ('pear' == $fruit)?'pear':'apple';

// Will echo apple

?>

It is even possible to use php-functions inside it:

<?php

$input = 'Just a string to be hashed';

$hashMethod = 'sha1';

$hash = ('sha1' == $hashMethod)?sha1($input):md5($input);

// $hash will contain an sha1 hash of $input

?>

Conclusion

The short if-else structure is a good way to keep your code organized. However, it is not possible to use such a thing as: ‘elseif’.
I use it all the time to assign values to variables, with just one rule of code, I’m sure my vars have a proper value. Especially when using forms, this is a very useful function of PHP.