Question

Coming from C# I must do a project in PHP.

I am using this code:

$transport = 'T';

$vehicle = (
 ( $transport == 'B' ) ? 'bus' :
 ( $transport == 'A' ) ? 'airplane' :
 ( $transport == 'T' ) ? 'train' :
 ( $transport == 'C' ) ? 'car' :
 ( $transport == 'H' ) ? 'horse' :
 'feet' );

echo $vehicle;

I would expect it to print train, but I get horse. Codepad example: http://codepad.org/rWllfrht

Who can explain this strange behaviour?

Answer 1

I won’t advise you to use such code but for educational purposes it should be

$transport = 'T';
$vehicle = (
        ($transport == 'B') ? 'bus' : 
            (($transport == 'A') ? 'airplane' : 
                (($transport == 'T') ? 'train' : 
                        (($transport == 'C') ? 'car' : 
                                (($transport == 'H') ? 'horse' : 'feet'))))
        );

echo $vehicle;

A better code should be

$transport = 'T';
switch ($transport) {
    case 'A' :
        $vehicle = 'airplane';
        break;
    case 'B' :
        $vehicle = 'bus';
        break;
    case 'C' :
        $vehicle = 'car';
        break;
    case 'H' :
        $vehicle = 'horse';
        break;
    case 'T' :
        $vehicle = 'train';
        break;
    default :
        $vehicle = 'teleportation';
        break;
}

echo $vehicle;

Or better still:

$transport = 'T';
$array = array('A'=>'airplane','B'=>"bus","C"=>"car","H"=>"horse","T"=>"train");
echo isset($array[$transport]) ? $array[$transport] : null;

Or, use a database:

 SELECT name FROM transpotationTable WHERE someKey = '$transport'