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Tasha
Tasha asked in Computers & InternetProgramming & Design · 7 years ago

What does y = a ? 5: a++ mean in C coding?

In C programming what does y equal for the following code:

int a =0;

y = a ? 5:++a;

I cant get my head around the ? symbol ive never seen it before and im unsure :/

Please help!

3 Answers

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  • Chris
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    The syntax is

    variable = condition ? new_value_if_true : new_value_if_false;

    Another example:

    String sign = x > 0 ? "positive" : "negative";

    a used as condition evaluates to false (0 -> false, everything else -> true), therefore the line sets y to ++a, which means a is incremented by one first, then its value is used. So y ends up being 1.

  • makdu
    7 years ago

    int a=0;

    if (a)

    {

    y=5;

    }

    else {

    y= 1;

    }

  • Jamps
    7 years ago

    it means if a is true then 5

    else 0;

    since initially a=0 so a= false

    also since ++a it means y will take y=a=0; as preincremented.

    after interpretation y=1;

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