PHP understanding ternary operators - php

Question

I'm still getting used to ternary operators and I find it a helpful way of minimizing code. I can make sense out of it if it is simple like the example showed below (example 1)
Example 1
$OrderType = ($name == 'first' ? 'Fred' : ($name == 'last' ? 'Dabo' : 'RAND()'))
This can be read as: if $name is 'first' then use 'Fred' else if $name is 'last' then use 'Dabo' else use 'RAND()'
However I saw this (example 2) on another website and it doesn't make any sense to me.
Example 2
$score = 10;
$age = 20;
echo 'Taking into account your age and score, you are: ',($age > 10 ? ($score < 80 ? 'behind' : 'above average') : ($score < 50 ? 'behind' : 'above average')); // returns 'You are behind'
So can someone explain to me in simple language how this ternary operator will read?

Answer 1

In simple language, that ternary says, if $age > 10, consider 80 a good score, otherwise consider 50 a good score.
Rather than nesting ternaries, consider breaking out the nested logic into its own helper function. I find the following code much more understandable.
function adult_score($score) {
return $score > 80 ? "behind" : "above average";
}
function child_score($score) {
return $score < 50 ? "behind" : "above average";
}
$score = 10;
$age = 20;
echo $age > 10 ? adult_score($score) : child_score($score);

Answer 2

So, you understand a ternary, part before the ? is the if statement, part between ? and : is the "to do if truthy" and the part after : is the "to do if falsey". So if you took that ternary and wrapped the "if" part with an if statement and wrapped the "true" and "false" with curly braces and replaced the : with an else, you end up with this:
if($age > 10){
if($score < 80){
return 'behind';
} else {
return 'above average';
}
} else {
if($score < 50){
return 'behind';
} else {
return 'above average';
}
}
Like others have said though, it is ugly and hard to follow. Unless your goal was to make it hard for others to follow your code, then don't do this. Just please, don't. They are nice for one off if statements, but get confusing fast. Do yourself and any future readers of your code a favor.