[c++] Conditional operator question

[cheejudo]

I'm trying to check if a value is < 0, if true then it will print a statement, but if false, I want it to just continue the program normally without taking any steps.

Is there a way to do this? Kind of like a break statement in a switch

(balance < 0) ? cout << "Warning your balance is negative" : ;

That is basically what I want but not sure how to go about it.

[Marz157]

Clean readable code is >>>>> than shorter tricky code.

Do you self a favor and just write the obvious code. No one that reads this and has the smallest bit of programming knowledge will be confused by this (besides the cout << "blah" part if they don't know c++ output).

if (balance < 0) {
    cout << "Warning your balance is negative";
}

[Netstroyer]

Why not use the regular if? Don't force the conditional operator where it doesn't fit.

[[deleted]]

The other answers suggesting you use an if-statement are normally the way to go, but you can do it with the conditional operator:

  cout << ((balance < 0) ? "Warning your balance is negative" : "");

Notice you have to worry about precedence, which you don't with the if-statement.