Is someone able to explain the meaing of the following statment, and the type of php it is reffering to so I can do further research: $foo = ($variation_id>0) ? $variation_id : $item_id; I have tried search but don't really know what i'm searching for. What I am trying to find out is the name and meaning of the following syntax ? / : and is ($variation_id>0) just a shorthand if statement ? -- I just stumbled upon conditional variables although a nice simple explanation would still be appreciated.