False branch of ternary expression consumes trailing string while concatenating - php

Question

I can't figure it out, why I get such a thing:
It is not infinite.
The workingList array has only 3 records:
if ($workerList) {
foreach ($workerList as $worker) {
$option .= '<option value="' . $worker["name"] . '" '
. ($worker["name"] === $b["worker"])
? "selected='selected'"
: "" . '>' . $worker['name'] . '</option>';
}
var_dump($option);
}
Did I mess up with quotes?
P.S. $b["worker"] can be null or a string.

Answer 1

Use the following.
if ($workerList) {
foreach ($workerList as $worker)
{
$selected_value = ($worker["name"] === $b["worker"]) ? "selected" : "";
$worker_name = $worker["name"];
$option .= '<option value="' . $worker_name . '" ' . $selected_value . '>' . $worker_name . '</option>';
}
echo $option;
}

Answer 2

The problem that you've experienced is an issue in the realm of "encapsulationg".
Your:
$option .= '<option value="' . $worker["name"] . '" ' . ($worker["name"] === $b["worker"]) ? "selected='selected'" : "" . '>' . $worker['name'] . '</option>';
Is the same as saying:
$option .= '<option value="' . $worker["name"] . '" ';
if ($worker["name"] === $b["worker"]) {
$option .= "selected='selected'";
} else {
$option .= "" . '>' . $worker['name'] . '</option>';
}
Because you didn't use parentheses to encapsulate the entire ternary expression, the "else" branch gobbled up all of the trailing text.
Put more simply, your code is this:
(condition) ? 'true branch' : 'false branch' . ' trailing text'
But your coding intent is:
(condition ? 'true branch' : 'false branch') . ' trailing text'
Your code could be corrected as:
$option .= '<option value="' . $worker["name"] . '" ' . ($worker["name"] === $b["worker"] ? "selected='selected'" : "") . '>' . $worker['name'] . '</option>';
But I have a strong distaste for messy concatenation/interpolation when adding multiple variables and/or conditions to a string.
Also, there is never any need to declare the value attribute of an option tag if it is identical to the option's visible text. All form submissions and javascript will work seamlessly.
I recommend the following:
$option .= sprintf(
'<option%s>%s</option>',
$worker['name'] === $b['worker'] ? ' selected' : '',
htmlspecialchars($worker['name'])
);