Greatest of three numbers using conditional (ternary) operator

Posted on Apr 16, 2020

C program to find the greatest of three numbers using Conditional (ternary) Operator.

Program

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
	int num1, num2, num3;

    printf("\nEnter the first number\t:");
    scanf("%d",&num1);
    printf("\nEnter the second number\t:");
    scanf("%d",&num2);
    printf("\nEnter the third number\t:");
    scanf("%d",&num3);

    (num1>num2) ? ((num1>num3) ? printf("\n%d is greatest",num1) : printf("\n%d is greatest",num3)) : ((num2>num3) ? printf("\n%d is greatest",num2) : printf("\n%d is greatest",num3));

    getch();
}

Output

********** Run1 ********** 

Enter the first number  :12
Enter the second number :23
Enter the third number  :21

23 is greatest


********** Run2 ********** 

Enter the first number  :23
Enter the second number :34
Enter the third number  :45

45 is greatest


********** Run3 ********** 

Enter the first number  :34
Enter the second number :32
Enter the third number  :21

34 is greatest

Explanation

Three numbers are taken as input from the user in the variables named 'num1', 'num2' and 'num3' respectively.



First of all, condition (num1 > num2) is checked. If the condition results in true, then Expression_2 is executed and if the condition results in false, then Expression_3 is executed.

In Expression_2, condition (num1 > num3) is checked. If the condition results in true, then Expression_2_2 is executed and if the condition results in false, then Expression_2_3 is executed.

Similarly, in Expression_3, condition (num2 > num3) is checked. If the condition results in true, then Expression_3_2 is executed and if the condition results in false, then Expression_3_3 is executed.