Whats the difference between using "?" and if statements

[SO AP]

So as per the title i'm having time trying to find the difference between using "?" and if statements. Is one considered proper format or does one have potential limitations?

int x = 10, b = 5;
	(x > b) ? true : false;
	if (x > b)
	{
		true
	}
	else (b > x)
	{
		false
	}

[lastchance]

Both are overkill. Just use
bool result = x > b;


Neither make much syntactical sense, and the second one (presumably) doesn't tell you what happens if b == x.

[Handy Andy]

Hello SO AP,

They are both basically the same. x > b ? true : false; is a shorter if statement, but can only do 1 thing, I believe, whereas what is between the {}s of the if/else can have more than 1 line.

There is a time and place depending on what you want to do.

BTW lines 5 and 9 are missing the (;) at the end of the line.

Andy

[helios]

A ternary expression is generally more difficult to read than the equivalent if-else block. Not always, just usually.