Question

I just found the following code in a PHP script and was wondering why it didn’t cause PHP to report an error?

$current_name == ($type != 3) ? $name : '' ;

It was a typo and the code was supposed to read:

$current_name = ($type != 3) ? $name : '' ;

Answer 1

That is a bizarre bit of code, but only because it is unreadable and useless, not because it is invalid. It uses the ternary operator, which is basically a shorthand if construct in the format condition ? if true : if false.

This code does the following:

1. Check whether $type != 3. If $type is 3, return false, otherwise true.
2. Compare the result of #1 to $current_name.
3. If #2 is true (i.e. $current_name == true), return $name. Otherwise (i.e. $current_name == false) return ''.

Of course, all this does absolutely nothing, because there is no assignment in the statement.