Ternary operator for strings - any nicer way?

Question

I'm concerned about this construct:

String out = "Text " + (obj==null ? "" : obj.getStr()+" ") + "text continues.";

It works and all, but I think it's ugly. Maybe I'm just too picky..

Anyway, I'm asking, is there some nicer way to do this kind of stuff?
Or is this the generally accepted technique?

Answer 1

Use a StringBuilder:

final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("Text ");
if (obj != null)
    sb.append(obj.getStr()).append(' ');
final String out = sb.append("text continues.").toString();

Also, why .getStr()? Doesn't obj implement .toString()?

---

Note that if obj did implement .toString(), you could do "better" than that using Guava's Joiner:

private static final Joiner JOINER = Joiner.on(" ").skipNulls();

//

final String out = JOINER.join("Text", obj, "text continues.");

Ultimately, though, that is a question of style.

Answer 2

Well you can separate out the logic from the format, to start with:

String out = String.format("Text %stextcontinues",
                           obj == null ? "" : obj.getStr() + " ");

Answer 3

I like it better because it is concise.

The other way is the plain old if-then-else:

String toAdd = "";
if(object != null) {
    obj.getStr() + " ";
}
String out = "Text " + toAdd  + "text continues.";

Answer 4

String out = "Text text continues.";
if (obj != null)
   out = "Text " + obj.getStr() + " text continues.";