Ternary Operator - can you return from the first clause?

PHP
1

I do not commonly use ternary operators, but when I do, I interpret ternary operators as

(condition) ? (do something if condition is true) : (do something if condition is false).

I’d like to use a ternary operator with a function that either returns a value or returns false as the condition, but I want the value to be returned without running the function again in the (do something if condition is true) spot in the ternary operator.

An example:

function getUserName()
{
    if (user name is found) {
    return $userName
    
   } 
   return false;
   
}

what I would like to do:
$my_return_value = (getUserName()) ?: ‘User name not found’;

what I have to do currently:
$my_return_value = (getUserName()) ? getUserName() : ‘User name not found’;

Is there anyway to achieve what I want here without using the getUserName function twice?

2

install PHP 5.3+, then the first ternary shorthand is a valid statement.

3

Thank you. I tried it several more times, it was a problem with my functions themselves, but I thought it was the ternary operator, but your saying it was right made me look in the right place since I assumed it was just a limitation of the ternary operator.

4

Why not just have GetUserName() return “User name not found” instead of false?

5

Most likely because the function must be used in other contexts. Having it return the specific string for the situation at hand makes the function less useful elsewhere.

6

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