Flash CS3 Documentation

ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference > ActionScript language elements > Operators > ?: conditional operator

?: conditional operator

expression1 ? expression2 : expression3

Instructs Flash to evaluate expression1, and if the value of expression1 is true, it returns the value of expression2; otherwise it returns the value of expression3.

Availability: ActionScript 1.0; Flash Player 4

Operands

expression1 : Object - An expression that evaluates to a Boolean value; usually a comparison expression, such as x < 5.

expression2 : Object - Values of any type.

expression3 : Object - Values of any type.

Returns

Object - The value of expression2 or expression3.

Example

The following statement assigns the value of variable x to variable z because expression1 evaluates to true:

var x:Number = 5; 
var y:Number = 10; 
var z = (x < 6) ? x: y; 
trace (z); // returns 5

The following example shows a conditional statement written in shorthand:

var timecode:String = (new Date().getHours() < 11) ? "AM" : "PM"; 
trace(timecode); 

The same conditional statement could also be written in longhand, as shown in the following example:

if (new Date().getHours() < 11) { 
 var timecode:String = "AM"; 
} else { 
 var timecode:String = "PM"; 
} trace(timecode); 

Flash CS3