Compress to/Expand Null Coalescing Operation

Aug 03, 2020
2 minutes to read

Purpose

Converts a ternary expression to an equivalent null coalescing operation and vice versa. Use of the null coalescing operations is the most compact way to specify null expressions in C#.

Availability

The Compress to Null Coalescing Operation Refactoring is available when the caret is inside a “ ? : “ operator (short form of if ). The operator should compare a variable to null. The same variable should be one of two alternative results.
The Expand Null Coalescing Operation is available when the caret is on a statement that uses the ?? operator.

Usage

Place the caret on a compressible ternary expression.
Press the Ctrl + . or Ctrl + ~ shortcut to invoke the Code Actions menu.
Select Compress to Null Coalescing Operation from the menu ( Expand Null Coalescing Operation if you are expanding the null coalescing operation).

After execution, the Refactoring compresses a ternary expression to an equivalent null coalescing operation or expands the null coalescing operation into an equivalent ternary expression.

csharp

private string CheckText(string text){
    return (text ?? "null");
}