Ternary operator OR if condition ?

[pankajit09]

Which is better -->

if($mData == "")
    $mData = 0;
else
    $mData = 1;

OR

$mData = $mData == "" ? 0 : 1;

[Markus]

Depends on the way you are using it.

In the way shown above, it'd be much easier - and less writing - to use the latter way.

[coolsti]

You could also go further and get a bit messy, which I have seen in some code and which I (very rarely) use in my own:

$resvar = ($mData == "") ? 0 : (($mData == 1) ?  1 : 2);
 

Am not sure how many chains of this you can use, and if there is any advantage of going beyond the first usage of the ternary OR.

[Atli]

In the samples you posted above, the Ternary operator would be a better fit.

It's main purpose would be to initialize variables based on simple boolean expressions, such as it's current value.

The if construct is a control structure, meant to control the flow of your code. It should be used when you need to execute different statements based on the results of a boolean expression.