[SOLVED] Using Ternary Function in Associative Array (PHP)

Using Ternary Function in Associative Array (PHP)

I'd like to understand if it's a) possible and b) "side-effect free" to assign associative array elements using a ternary function in PHP.

So instead of this:

$second_element = $test ? "tistrue" : "tisfalse";
echo build_assignment_page(array(
  'firstkey'  => $first_element,
  'secondkey' => $second_element,
  'thirdkey'  => $third_element
 ));

Something like this:

echo build_assignment_page(array(
  'firstkey'  => $first_element,
  'secondkey' => ($test ? "tistrue" : "tisfalse"),
  'thirdkey'  => $third_element
 ));

Solution

The ternary operator can be used everywhere where an expression is allowed. (It is not a construct like if..else or while).

Therefore, your code is valid.

The ternary operator never has side effects. It checks if the condition evaluates to true or some true-ish value. Then it returns a value, depending on the condition.