Compound if statement using ?: operator in C [duplicate]

Question

Is it possible to write the equivalent compound "if" statement using the "?" operator in C? I want to write an "if - else if - else" statement and was wonder if I could utilize the "?" operator.

I believe the regular syntax for using "?" would be something like

foo = (bar == 42) ? answerToEverything : useless;

If I wanted to rewrite the following statement in one line using the "?" operator, could I do that? How?

if(bar == 42) {
  foo = answerToEverything;
} 
else if(bar == 23) {
  foo = bigMike;
} 
else foo = useless;

Answer 1

foo = 
    (bar == 42) ? answerToEverything :
    (bar == 23) ? bigMike :
    useless;

Answer 2

Yes, you can, but it's ugly and hard to understand!

I would advise using the multiline form, since it's easier to comprehend:

if (bar == 42) {
  foo = answerToEverything;
} else if (bar == 23) {
  foo = bigMike;
} else {
  foo = useless;
}

But, if you really want to make your code difficult to read:

foo = (bar == 42)
  ? answerToEverything
  : (bar == 23)
      ? bigMike
      : useless;

Of course, feel free to format with whitespace as you see fit.