? Operator

[Lakshmi Saradha]

Could anyone of you tell me how this is executed
int x=-5;
x+=x<0?2:-2;
System.out.println(x);
I got the answer as -3. How does -3 gets printed here?

[Jeff Bosch]

 
int x=-5;
x+=x<0?2:-2;
System.out.println(x);

Initially, x equals -5.
The assignment operator is right-associative, so it'll perform the ternary operation first. The ternary operator performs the logical test x<0, which is true, so it adds the quantity 2 to -5 which equals -3. Had the test been false, the answer would have been to add -2 to -5, producing -7.
The ternary operator works like this:
test ? true < false
You can have any boolean expression for the test, and any valid expression for the true/false operation.
Hope that helps!

[Lakshmi Saradha]

Thank you Jeff....
I missed the fact that assignment operator is right associative.

[Thomas Paul]

It's pretty simple... the stuff before the ? is evaluated as a boolean. If it is true then the stuff between the ? and the : is returned. If it is false then the stuff after the : is returned.
int x=-5;
x+=x<0?2:-2;
System.out.println(x);
5 is less than 0 so 2 is returned and added to -5 and x becomes -3.
With that knowledge, what do you think this will print (taken From Tom's closet of Bad Coding Techniques):

class A {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int i = 5;
        int a = 0;
        int x = i>3?a>5?1:2:3;
        System.out.println(x);
    }
    
}

[Lakshmi Saradha]

It should be 2..

[qingwu wang]

a>5?1:2 should be excuted first.the result is 2