The ternary operator and JSP

This interesting bit of JSTL for JSP is worth writing about.

Background: The ternary operator allows you to combine an if-then-else statement into one line using a bunch of symbols. It makes code a bit harder to read, but it also makes it look cool.

I can turn this:

  not empty


  empty

into this:

It even parses variables for output:

And you don’t even need the c:out:

${not empty somevariable ?  somevariable: 'empty'}

Old hat yes, but I thought an interesting tidbit to write about!

http://steveswinsburg.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/the-ternary-operator-and-jsp/