Thread: What's wrong with my turnary ? statement?

Have a look at my code below.

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace::std;


struct node {
	int data;
	struct node* left;
	struct node* right;
}; 

void printInOrder(node* myNode);
int countNodes(node* myNode);

// a quick function to simulate a tree structure.
struct node* getTree() {

		// allocate space for six nodes.
	struct node* root = new (struct node);
	struct node* two = new (struct node);
	struct node* three = new (struct node);
	struct node* four = new (struct node);
	struct node* five = new (struct node);
	struct node* six = new (struct node);

	root->data  = 1;
		two->data   = 2;
		three->data = 3;
		four->data  = 4;
		five->data  = 5;
		six->data   = 6;
  
	root->left = two;
		root->right = three;
		two->left = four;
		two->right = five;
		three->right = six;
		return root;

}


int main() {
	node *tree = getTree();
	printInOrder(tree);
	cout << "This tree has " << countNodes(tree) << " nodes." << endl;
}

void printInOrder(node* myNode){
	if(myNode != 0){
		printInOrder(myNode->left);
		cout << myNode->data << endl;
		printInOrder(myNode->right);
	}	
}

int countNodes(node* myNode){
	/*if(myNode != 0){
		return (1 + countNodes(myNode->left) + countNodes(myNode->right));	
	} else
		return 0;*/
	
	//this is the statement in question
	myNode != 0 ? return(1 + countNode(myNode->left) + countNode(myNode->right)) : return 0;
}

I know the syntax is correct because I checked it against another program I have that uses the operator and it works but this doesn't for some reason. My compiler tells me that it expects a primary expression before the return statement.

Since ?: is just and if/else for expressions, you may as well save some confusion by writing

Code:

if ( myNode != 0 ) {
  return(1 + countNode(myNode->left) + countNode(myNode->right));
} else {
  return 0;
}