The ternary operator in Perl, denoted by ?, is a shorthand form of if-else statement. Its syntax is:
condition ? expression_if_true : expression_if_false
If the condition is true, the expression before the colon : is evaluated, else the expression after the colon is evaluated.
Here's an example to illustrate:
# Assign variable x the value of y if z is true, else assign 0
$x = $z ? $y : 0;
# Print "Yes" if $flag is true, else print "No"
print $flag ? "Yes" : "No";
In the first example, if $z is true, then $x will be assigned the value of $y, else $x will be assigned 0.
In the second example, if $flag is true, then "Yes" will be printed, else "No" will be printed.
Ternary operator can also be nested inside each other. Here's an example:
# Assign variable x based on multiple conditions
$x = $a > $b ? ($a > $c ? $a : $c) : ($b > $c ? $b : $c);
In this example, if $a is greater than $b, then $x will be assigned the greater value of $a and $c. Else, if $b is greater than $c, then $x will be assigned the value of $b, else $x will be assigned the value of $c.