In Javascript, is it OK to put the ternary operator's `?` on then next line?

UPDATE: This answer is outdated now. Apparently Crockford changes his mind ;)

See @CheapSteaks's answer for the update.

Per Crockford:

Place the break after an operator, ideally after a comma. A break after an operator decreases the likelihood that a copy-paste error will be masked by semicolon insertion.

So:

// this is ok
var myVar = (condition ?
    ifTrue : 
    ifFalse
);

If you run this sample code through JSHint, this will pass:

// this is ok
var myVar = (1==1 ?
    true : 
    false
);


This works and is certainly valid. It's especially useful in more complicated use cases, like nested ones.

var a = test1
         ? b
         : test2
            ? c
            : d;

Per Crockford

The ternary operator can be visually confusing, so ? question mark always begins a line and increase the indentation by 4 spaces, and : colon always begins a line, aligned with the ? question mark. The condition should be wrapped in parens.

var integer = function (
    value,
    default_value
) {
    value = resolve(value);
    return (typeof value === "number")
        ? Math.floor(value)
        : (typeof value === "string")
            ? value.charCodeAt(0)
            : default_value;
};

Tags:

Javascript

Jshint

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