How does the ternary operator work in the wordpress loop post?

Question

Okay so I kind of understand that ternary operators work like

  condition ? TRUE : FALSE

However I'm looking a simple loop to get my posts that I have

<?php if (have_posts()) :
while(have_posts()): the_post();
    the_content();
    endwhile;
endif;
 ?>

The question I have is where is the ? in this syntax. Why is the : used when according to the

   condition ? TRUE : FALSE

Whatever comes after the semicolon is when that statement (like have_posts()) is FALSE?

toscho · Answer 1 · 2012-04-26 03:28:36Z

The double colon in this case is part of the alternative syntax for control structures.
That's not the ternary operator.

You could also write instead:

if ( have_posts() )
{
    while( have_posts() )
    {
        the_post();
        the_content();
    }
}

I prefer the second style, most code editors enable automatic folding with it, so I can close parts I don't need to see.

1 Answer