Ternary operator in Ruby - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of a simple ternary expression

What is the output of this Ruby code?

Ruby

result = 5 > 3 ? "yes" : "no"
puts result

A true

B no

C yes

D false

💡 Hint

The ternary operator chooses the first value if the condition is true.

Since 5 is greater than 3, the condition is true, so the expression returns "yes".

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Ternary operator with numeric result

What will be the output of this Ruby code?

Ruby

num = 10
result = num.even? ? num / 2 : num * 3
puts result

A 20

B 30

C 10

D 5

💡 Hint

Check if the number is even and then apply the correct operation.

10 is even, so the expression returns 10 / 2 which is 5.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Nested ternary operator output

What is the output of this Ruby code with nested ternary operators?

Ruby

score = 75
result = score > 90 ? "A" : score > 80 ? "B" : score > 70 ? "C" : "F"
puts result

A C

B B

C A

D F

💡 Hint

Evaluate conditions from left to right carefully.

75 is not greater than 90 or 80, but it is greater than 70, so the result is "C".

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Ternary operator with method call

What will this Ruby code output?

Ruby

def check(num)
  num > 0 ? "positive" : "non-positive"
end
puts check(-1)

A error

B non-positive

C nil

D positive

💡 Hint

Check the condition num > 0 for -1.

Since -1 is not greater than 0, the ternary returns "non-positive".

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Understanding ternary operator precedence

What is the value of variable x after running this Ruby code?

Ruby

x = false || true ? 1 : 2

A 1

B 2

C true

D false

💡 Hint

Remember that ternary operator has higher precedence than || operator.

The expression is evaluated as false || (true ? 1 : 2). The ternary returns 1, so false || 1 is 1 (truthy), and in Ruby, || returns the first truthy value, which is 1, so x is 1.