May 17, 2012

Find maximum/minimum of three numbers using ternary operator(conditional operator) in java

Nikhil Ranjan May 17, 2012 Core java interview questions, Java No comments

Ternary operator :- It is one of the handy programming construct which is commonly used to minimize number of keystrokes.In order to find maximum of two numbers general syntax of ternary operator is:
Number1 <comparison operator> Number2 ? <Return_this_if_true> : <Return_this_if_false>
Suppose we have to find minimum of n1 and n2 using ternary operator. int n1 = 67; int n2 = 34;
int maxOfTwo = n1 > n2 ? n1 : n2 ; // maxOfTwo will store 67

Similarly for minimum finding, just reverse the operator operation
int minOfTwo = n1 < n2 ? n1 : n2 ; // minOfTwo will store 34

Now we will extend above concept to find maximum of three numbers: -
int n1= 67, n2 =34, n3 = 134;
int maxOfThree = n1 > n2 ? (n1 > n3 ? n1 : n3) : (n2 >n3 ? n2 : n3)
When n1 > n2 is executed and outcome is true then (n1 > n3 ? n1 : n3) will be executed else (n2 >n3 ? n2 : n3) will be executed.Using (n1 > n3 ? n1 : n3) we will get max of n1, n2 and n3 otherwise (n2 >n3 ? n2 : n3) will give max of three.

Below sample program demonstrate how to find maximum and minimum of three numbers using ternary operator.

public class MaxAndMinOfThreeNoUsingTernary {

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  int n1= 67, n2 =34, n3 = 134;
  int maxOfThree = n1 > n2 ? (n1 > n3 ? n1 : n3) : (n2  <n3 ? n2 : n3);
  System.out.println("Max of three is: " + maxOfThree);
  
  int minOfThree = n1 < n2 ? (n1 < n3 ? n1 : n3) : (n2  <n3 ? n2 : n3);
  System.out.println("Min of three is: " + minOfThree);
  
 }

}