inanzzz | The difference between ternary and null coalescing operators in PHP

This example shows us the differences between ternary x ? x : z (x ?: z) and null coalescing operators x ?? z in PHP.

Example

$a = 'A';
$b = 'B';

echo $a ? $a : $b; // A
echo $a ?: $b;     // A
echo $a ?? $b;     // A

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$a = '';
$b = 'B';

echo $a ? $a : $b; // B
echo $a ?: $b;     // B
echo $a ?? $b;     // Returns empty value which is $a

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$a = ' ';
$b = 'B';

echo $a ? $a : $b; // Returns empty value which is $a
echo $a ?: $b;     // Returns empty value which is $a
echo $a ?? $b;     // Returns empty value which is $a

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$a = null;
$b = 'B';

echo $a ? $a : $b; // B
echo $a ?: $b;     // B
echo $a ?? $b;     // B

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$a = false;
$b = 'B';

echo $a ? $a : $b; // B
echo $a ?: $b;     // B
echo $a ?? $b;     // 0/false

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$a = true;
$b = 'B';

echo $a ? $a : $b; // 1/true
echo $a ?: $b;     // 1/true
echo $a ?? $b;     // 1/true

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$b = 'B';

echo $a ? $a : $b; // PHP Notice:  Undefined variable $a
echo $a ?: $b;     // PHP Notice:  Undefined variable $a
echo $a ?? $b;     // B