Is it possible to use in-line if statements within defining a string?

Question

I'm trying to build a string of HTML as follows:

$html= "<input name='".GROUP_CONFIG_MAX_CALL_RECORDING_TIME_INPUT."' value='".$MaxCallRecordingTimeSecs."' size='4' ".($bCallRecordingLicensed)?'':'disabled'.">";

But it just gives me a parse error (no specific detail, just that this line is the problem).

I've tried various positioning of quotations and brackets but I'm always getting the parse error. Is this possible the way I'm trying?

Your line does not produce any parse error, but heed @codingbiz's answer, as the ternary operator in PHP has a very low precedence. — lanzz
– lanzz, Commented Oct 8, 2012 at 14:26
@lanzz, you say it doesn't produce a parse error but I've copied the line exactly as it is in my code and I'm still getting Parse error: parse error in <file> on line 201 — MatthewMcGovern
– MatthewMcGovern, Commented Oct 8, 2012 at 14:30
I have copied and pasted your exact line, and after adding a definitions for the constant and the two variables, the code does not produce any errors; even with the constant and variables undefined, the errors produced are not parse errors. The cause of your error is likely not on this line, PHP's error reporting is notoriously inaccurate. — lanzz
– lanzz, Commented Oct 8, 2012 at 14:32
If I comment out this line and this line only, the parse error is gone. — MatthewMcGovern
– MatthewMcGovern, Commented Oct 8, 2012 at 14:35
This does not help the fact that this line alone is not enough to reproduce your problem. — lanzz
– lanzz, Commented Oct 8, 2012 at 14:36

Berry Langerak · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-08 14:28:59Z

3

$html= "<input name='".GROUP_CONFIG_MAX_CALL_RECORDING_TIME_INPUT."' value='".$MaxCallRecordingTimeSecs."' size='4' ".($bCallRecordingLicensed?'':'disabled').">";

Like codingbiz said, this should work with additional parentheses. I'd go for a more readable version with sprintf though:

$html = sprintf( '<input name="%s" value="%s" size="4"%s>', GROUP_CONFIG_MAX_CALL_RECORDING_TIME_INPUT, $MaxCallRecordingTimeSecs, ( $bCallRecordingLicenced ? '' : ' disabled' ) );

answered Oct 8, 2012 at 14:28

Berry Langerak

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4 Comments

MatthewMcGovern Over a year ago

I agree on the sprintf method, thanks. However, this gives a parse error as well :S

Berry Langerak Over a year ago

@MatthewMcGovern Not to be a smart-ass, but that's rather impossible. Check the line above this one: it probably goes wrong there. What is the exact message you're getting?

MatthewMcGovern Over a year ago

Not a smart-ass at all. There's no semi-colon on the line above. I'm going to pretend I never asked this question lol. I thought because it worked fine when I comment out the line in question that the error was on that line. Totally overlooked the line above... Mondays are never easy.

Berry Langerak Over a year ago

@MatthewMcGovern Tell me about it ;) Glad your problem is solved.

codingbiz · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-08 14:25:15Z

1

Try

".(($bCallRecordingLicensed)?'':'disabled').">";

additional brackets

answered Oct 8, 2012 at 14:25

codingbiz

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2 Comments

codingbiz Over a year ago

I don't see reason why. If you take this portion out does it work?

codingbiz Over a year ago

the way you had it in the question confused the parser - seems like the ' ' was never completed before concatenating with ." ". Take ternary part out and see if it still works

user7675 · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-08 14:31:51Z

Try wrapping the whole ternary in parens, rather than just the variable at the start:

$html= "<input name='".GROUP_CONFIG_MAX_CALL_RECORDING_TIME_INPUT."' value='".$MaxCallRecordingTimeSecs."' size='4' ".($bCallRecordingLicensed?'':'disabled').">";

BugFinder · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-08 14:28:36Z

I think its because you change quote marks:

For example

$test = false; $strings = "hello ".($test?"you":"")." this is a test"; echo $strings;

works as you expected.

I did find that without the brackets round the test, for example, my test only produced the word "you" .. rather than the whole string - which was odd.

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