Issue with converting an if-else to a conditional statement

[andygarc1a]

How do I convert this if-else statement to a conditional statement?

/*
 if (n != 1)
 	cout << "There are " << n << " items left.";
else
	cout << "There is 1 item left.";
*/

Here is what I tried:

n != 1 ? "There are " n " items left." : "There is 1 item left.";

Just having trouble finding the correct format. In a previous try, I assigned the text to string, but I'm still having trouble trying to determine the correct format. My book only shows me examples when dealing with numbers.

[Bdanielz]

If this can be done, why do you want to? The first bit of code is easy to read and understand.

I am thinking to actual implement this it will end up looking messier than your above example.

[liuyang]

The original code best describes what you want. I don't recommend you to convert it into conditional statement.

If you really want to do that, you could try this

#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <string>

int main(void)
{
    int n = 2;
    
    std::cout << (n != 1 ? ((std::stringstream&)(std::stringstream() << "There are " << n << " items left.")).str() : std::string("There is 1 item left."));
    
    return 0;
}

AND THIS IS TERRIBLE!

[andygarc1a]

Oh, it was just for an assignment. Our teacher wanted us to try it that way, but yeah I agree. It's messy haha, was sad I couldn't use if-else.