assignment operator return values

[ala888]

In php, I often see code such as

if($X = mysqli_query($CON,$SQL){//some code}does the assignment of $X actually return a true value or something?

[niche]

Ifs have to be true to be triggered.

[thescientist]

conditional statements evaluate expressions. so if that expression evaluates to true, then the if condition will be met. it's optional to assign the return value of the function to $x in this case, unless you actually plan to use it later

[justsomeguy]

When you evaluate an assignment expression, it evaluates the part on the left, the variable that got the assignment. So the value of ($x = func()) is the same as the value of $x. This page lists the values that will evaluate to false, everything else will evaluate to true:http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.boolean.php

[ala888]

everything else will evaluate to true:

thanks, that made it alot more clear! I thought it explicitly had to be the keyword 'true'

[justsomeguy]

I thought it explicitly had to be the keyword 'true'

That would make 3 states: true, false, and "maybe". Computers don't have a maybe, everything is either true or false.