C Program To Find Largest and Smallest of Three Numbers Using Ternary Operator

In this tutorial, we are going to see how to write a C program to find the largest and smallest of three numbers using the ternary operator. The C language comes with a ternary operator that is a bit strange and can be used as an alternative to if-else and has the advantage that it can be embedded in an expression. The following expression <expr1> ? <expr2> : <expr3> is translated like this:

• If <expr1> is not null, then the value of <expr2> is returned as the result.
• Otherwise, the value of <expr3> is returned as the result.

The following instruction:

if (a>b)
   max=a;
else
   max=b;

Can be replaced by :

max = (a > b) ? a : b;

 
In the following example, we ask the user to enter 3 numbers using scanf function, and then we consider the first input as the maximum and minimum. Then we compare it with other inputs.
 
 

C Program To Find Largest and Smallest of Three Numbers Using Ternary Operator

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int a,b,c;
  
    printf("Enter 1st number: ");
    scanf("%d",&a);

    printf("Enter 2nd number: ");
    scanf("%d",&b);
  
    printf("Enter 3th number: ");
    scanf("%d",&c);
  
    int max = a, min = a;
	
    max = (b > max)? b: max;
    max = (c > max)? c: max;
    printf("\nMax is %d", max);

	
    min = (b < min)? b: min;
    min = (c < min)? c: min;
    printf("\nMin is %d", min);
	
    return 0;
}

Output:

Enter 1st number: 12
Enter 2nd number: 45
Enter 3th number: 32

Max is 45
Min is 12

 
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