Better way of PHP if shorthand

Question

I was wondering whether there's a better way of writing this? I am aware that the answer could be no.

$variable = aMethodToGetSomeValue();

$result = ($variable) ? $variable : null/false/0;

Basically, I want to set the result to $variable if $variable is not false, else return as defined.

The above code works, the question is just whether there's a better way of writing the shorthand? Since the use case for me is such that the $variable is a query to the database.

Similar question but not really what I'm asking for I believe..?

Answer 1

Look up shorthand ternary if PHP >= 5.3

Example:

<?php
$e = "asdf";
$e = ($e) ?: "foo";

var_dump($e); // string(4) "asdf" 
?>