Is the PHP ternary operator broken?

This C code does what I expect:

Code:

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#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
        int x = 3;
        int y = (x<3)?1:(x<4)?2:(x<6)?3:4;
        printf("%d\n", y);
        return 0;
}

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It prints the number 2.

This PHP code does not:

Code:

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<?php
$x = 3;
$y = ($x<3)?1:($x<4)?2:($x<6)?3:4;
echo $y."\n";
?>

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Instead I get 3

It only seems to evaluate the last expression. Anyone know if this would be a bug, or if there is a reason for this?

I dont like it :(

Edit: found the answer, http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=25356. Guess I should have searched first...

You have to nest it in proper parentheses to make it work.
Even if it does work without the parentheses in other languages, its always better to use them as it makes the code more readable.

The code is so unreadable it doesn't surprise me the least if it failed.
You are abusing the operator. At least some new lines will help.

PHP's conditional operator is left-associative, C++'s is right-associative.
PHP: Operator Precedence - Manual
See in particular the first comment on this page.

Right-associative makes a lot more sense, but you can't change such a thing now. So yeah, PHP is broken. But so is any code where the ?: fixity is relevant.

I wouldn't say it is broken, just doesn't operate like other languages. After years of PHP programming I can honestly say I haven't had that particular issue cause a problem. What is much more likely to cause a problem is:

Code:

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$status = 'You ' . $loggedin ? 'are' : 'are not' . ' logged into the system';

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Due to the precedence of . over ?: which of course confuses new PHP programmers because:

Code:

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echo 'You ', $loggedin ? 'are' : 'are not', ' logged into the system';

---

is just fine.

The classic problem of getting too comfortable with one language. All of the sudden, the logical portion of your brain perceives "Doesn't work like my primary language" to be equivalent to "Doesn't work correctly."

Is that in reference to me or to the OP, Sly?

The OP. In fact, I didn't read the entire thread too clearly to even notice your statement. Regardless, as stated, these issues don't come up in any language if the programmer correctly uses parenthesis to explicitly specify operator precedence and/or breaks up statements into more readable, less error-prone segments. It's certainly reasonable to express preference to one language's method over another, however, in a business where we don't always get to choose what language we work in professionally, it's highly recommended to accept alternatives and simply recognize the different simply as such.

And it's not like PHP did anything except inherit the semantics of Perl.

Quote:

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PHP's conditional operator is left-associative, C++'s is right-associative.

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Thanks, that makes sense now. Guess its not a bug then, but its still annoying.

Quote:

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What is much more likely to cause a problem is:

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Cant say I have ran into that yet, and I suppose I shouldn't have to now.

Quote:

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The classic problem of getting too comfortable with one language

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Maybe, but C-like languages should behave C-like IMHO.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mike_g

Maybe, but C-like languages should behave C-like IMHO.

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Well, in that case, so should programmers :)

Do not nest the ternary operator. It's poor form. Use regular conditional logic and operators instead.

But how C-like is PHP? It takes its greatest inheritance from Perl, not C. Perl already did the conditional operator this way, so if you want to blame someone, blame Larry Wall. (awk and C, Perl's primary sources of inspiration, both group ?: from right to left.)

It is hard to tell where some of the inspiration for the C-like (vs generic stuff) came from. Some of it smells of Java, other C++, and very little plain C.

But there are much more interesting ways to abuse the language than ?: :D

Should be interesting to know if anyone has any memories of PHP prior to PHP 3. Zeev and Andi completely rewrote the parser and created the Zend Engine the next year. It's also with PHP 3 that I seem to think the ternary conditional operator was introduced.

Before that PHP was mostly in the hands of Lerdorf and despite the syntax being similar to Perl, it was entirely written in C, exactly to replace Perl scripts. My guess is that the Perl influenced parser happens when the two Israeli friends take hold of the project. That's PHP 3.0.