API Reference

Complete reference for all inputs and outputs of the Ternary Operator Action.

Inputs
Outputs
Limits and Constraints
Environment Variables

Inputs

`conditions`

Required: Yes
Type: String
Format: Comma-separated conditions

List of conditional expressions to evaluate. Each condition is evaluated independently and produces a corresponding output.

Example:

conditions: >-
  SERVICE IN game,batch,api,
  ENVIRONMENT == dev,
  TEST == prod

Constraints:

Maximum 10 conditions
Each condition must be a valid expression
Conditions are separated by commas
Whitespace is automatically trimmed

Supported Formats:

# Single line
conditions: 'SERVICE == game, ENVIRONMENT == prod'

# Multi-line with >-
conditions: >-
  SERVICE IN game,batch,
  ENVIRONMENT == dev

# Multi-line with |
conditions: |
  SERVICE == game,
  ENVIRONMENT == prod

`true_values`

Required: Yes
Type: String
Format: Comma-separated values

Values to return when corresponding conditions evaluate to TRUE.

Example:

true_values: 'service-true,environment-true,test-true'

Constraints:

Must have same number of values as conditions
Each value corresponds to a condition by position
Values can be any string

Best Practices:

# Descriptive values
true_values: 'deploy-production,use-config-a,enable-feature'

# Boolean-like values
true_values: 'true,yes,1'

# Action identifiers
true_values: 'deploy,build,test'

`false_values`

Required: Yes
Type: String
Format: Comma-separated values

Values to return when corresponding conditions evaluate to FALSE.

Example:

false_values: 'service-false,environment-false,test-false'

Constraints:

Must have same number of values as conditions
Each value corresponds to a condition by position
Values can be any string

Best Practices:

# Descriptive values
false_values: 'skip-deploy,use-config-b,disable-feature'

# Boolean-like values
false_values: 'false,no,0'

# Action identifiers
false_values: 'skip,skip,skip'

`default_values`

Required: No Type: String Default: '' (empty) Format: Comma-separated values

Fallback values to use when a condition evaluation fails (e.g., due to an unexpected error). Must match the number of conditions if provided.

Example:

default_values: 'fallback1,fallback2,fallback3'

Use Cases:

Graceful degradation when variables are missing
Providing safe defaults for critical workflows
Error-resilient condition evaluation

`case_sensitive`

Required: No Type: Boolean Default: true

Controls whether string comparisons are case-sensitive. When set to false, all string comparisons (==, !=, IN, CONTAINS, STARTS_WITH, ENDS_WITH, MATCHES) become case-insensitive.

Example:

case_sensitive: false

When Disabled (`false`):

SERVICE == Game matches game, GAME, Game
SERVICE IN Game,Batch matches game, batch, etc.
BRANCH CONTAINS Feature matches feature, FEATURE, etc.
MATCHES patterns use re.IGNORECASE flag

Use Cases:

Flexible environment variable matching
User input normalization
Cross-platform compatibility (case differences between OS)

`debug_mode`

Required: No Type: Boolean Default: false

Enable detailed debug logging for troubleshooting.

Example:

debug_mode: true

When Enabled:

Shows variable substitution details
Displays condition evaluation steps
Reports warnings for undefined variables
Shows intermediate processing results

Debug Output Example:

• Debug: Starting validation
• Debug: Raw conditions string: 'SERVICE IN game,batch,api'
• Debug: Parsed 3 conditions:
  1. SERVICE IN game,batch,api
• Debug: Variable SERVICE = game
• Debug: Checking if SERVICE='game' IN [game, batch, api]
• Debug: IN operator result: True
Success: Condition 1 is TRUE

Use Cases:

Development and testing
Troubleshooting condition evaluation
Verifying environment variable values
Understanding processing flow

Outputs

The action generates outputs named output_1 through output_10, corresponding to each evaluated condition. Additionally, a result output provides all results as a JSON object.

`result` Output

Type: JSON string Format: {"output_1": "value1", "output_2": "value2", ...}

A combined JSON object containing all evaluated outputs, useful for passing results to downstream jobs or parsing multiple outputs at once.

Example:

- name: Evaluate
  uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1
  id: check
  with:
    conditions: 'SERVICE == game, ENV == prod'
    true_values: 'yes,deploy'
    false_values: 'no,skip'

- name: Use JSON Result
  run: echo '${{ steps.check.outputs.result }}'
  # Output: {"output_1": "yes", "output_2": "skip"}

Output Format

Name Pattern: output_N where N is 1-10 Type: String Value: Either the corresponding true_value, false_value, or default_value

Output Reference Table

Output	Corresponds To	Value Source
`output_1`	1st condition	`true_values[0]` or `false_values[0]`
`output_2`	2nd condition	`true_values[1]` or `false_values[1]`
`output_3`	3rd condition	`true_values[2]` or `false_values[2]`
`output_4`	4th condition	`true_values[3]` or `false_values[3]`
`output_5`	5th condition	`true_values[4]` or `false_values[4]`
`output_6`	6th condition	`true_values[5]` or `false_values[5]`
`output_7`	7th condition	`true_values[6]` or `false_values[6]`
`output_8`	8th condition	`true_values[7]` or `false_values[7]`
`output_9`	9th condition	`true_values[8]` or `false_values[8]`
`output_10`	10th condition	`true_values[9]` or `false_values[9]`

Using Outputs

In Workflow Steps:

- name: Evaluate
  uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1
  id: check
  with:
    conditions: 'SERVICE == game'
    true_values: 'deploy'
    false_values: 'skip'

- name: Use Output
  run: echo "Result: ${{ steps.check.outputs.output_1 }}"

- name: Conditional Step
  if: steps.check.outputs.output_1 == 'deploy'
  run: ./deploy.sh

In Job Outputs:

jobs:
  evaluate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      deploy_action: ${{ steps.check.outputs.output_1 }}
      config_type: ${{ steps.check.outputs.output_2 }}
    steps:
      - name: Check
        id: check
        uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1
        with:
          conditions: 'SERVICE == game, ENVIRONMENT == prod'
          true_values: 'deploy,prod-config'
          false_values: 'skip,dev-config'
  
  deploy:
    needs: evaluate
    if: needs.evaluate.outputs.deploy_action == 'deploy'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: echo "Deploying..."

Limits and Constraints

Maximum Conditions

Limit: 10 conditions per action call
Rationale: Keeps outputs manageable and promotes clarity

Enforcement:

[X] Error: Maximum number of conditions (10) exceeded. Found 11 conditions

Workaround:

If you need more than 10 conditions, split them into multiple action calls:

- name: First Batch
  uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1
  id: batch1
  with:
    conditions: # conditions 1-10

- name: Second Batch
  uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1
  id: batch2
  with:
    conditions: # conditions 11-20

Array Length Matching

All arrays must have the same length:

conditions count
true_values count
false_values count
default_values count (if provided)

Error Example:

# [X] This will fail
conditions: 'A == 1, B == 2'      # 2 conditions
true_values: 'yes'                 # 1 value
false_values: 'no,never'          # 2 values

# Error: Number of conditions (2), true values (1), and false values (2) must match

Correct:

# [O] This works
conditions: 'A == 1, B == 2'      # 2 conditions
true_values: 'yes,ok'             # 2 values
false_values: 'no,fail'           # 2 values

Variable Name Requirements

Environment variables used in conditions must:

Start with an uppercase letter
Contain only uppercase letters, numbers, and underscores
Be set before the action runs

Valid:

SERVICE       # [O]
ENVIRONMENT   # [O]
MY_VAR        # [O]
API_V2        # [O]
COUNT         # [O]

Invalid:

service       # [X] lowercase
my-var        # [X] contains hyphen
2ND_VAR       # [X] starts with number

Environment Variables

The action reads environment variables set in the workflow.

Setting Environment Variables

Method 1: Workflow-level

env:
  SERVICE: game
  ENVIRONMENT: prod

jobs:
  test:
    steps:
      - uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1
        with:
          conditions: 'SERVICE == game'

Method 2: Job-level

jobs:
  test:
    env:
      SERVICE: game
      ENVIRONMENT: prod
    steps:
      - uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1

Method 3: Step-level

steps:
  - name: Set Variable
    run: echo "SERVICE=game" >> $GITHUB_ENV
  
  - uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1
    env:
      ENVIRONMENT: prod
    with:
      conditions: 'SERVICE == game && ENVIRONMENT == prod'

Method 4: Using env-output-setter (Recommended)

- name: Set Variables
  uses: somaz94/env-output-setter@v1
  with:
    env_key: 'SERVICE,ENVIRONMENT'
    env_value: 'game,prod'

- uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1
  with:
    conditions: 'SERVICE == game'

Variable Substitution

The action automatically substitutes environment variables in conditions:

# Before substitution
conditions: 'SERVICE == game && ENVIRONMENT == prod'

# After substitution (if SERVICE=game, ENVIRONMENT=qa)
conditions: '"game" == "game" && "qa" == "prod"'

Undefined Variables

If a variable is not set:

The condition evaluates to FALSE
A warning is shown in debug mode

# SERVICE is not set
conditions: 'SERVICE == game'

# Debug output:
• Debug: Warning: Variable SERVICE is not set or empty
• Debug: Condition 1 is FALSE

Complete Example

name: Complete API Demo
on: [workflow_dispatch]

jobs:
  demo:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      result1: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.output_1 }}
      result2: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.output_2 }}
      result3: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.output_3 }}
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      
      - name: Set Environment Variables
        uses: somaz94/env-output-setter@v1
        with:
          env_key: 'SERVICE,ENVIRONMENT,VERSION'
          env_value: 'game,prod,1.5.0'
          output_key: 'SERVICE,ENVIRONMENT,VERSION'
          output_value: 'game,prod,1.5.0'
      
      - name: Evaluate Conditions
        id: evaluate
        uses: somaz94/ternary-operator@v1
        with:
          # Input 1: conditions (required)
          conditions: >-
            SERVICE IN game,batch,api,
            ENVIRONMENT == prod,
            VERSION >= 1.5
          
          # Input 2: true_values (required)
          true_values: >-
            valid-service,
            production-deploy,
            new-version
          
          # Input 3: false_values (required)
          false_values: >-
            invalid-service,
            non-prod-deploy,
            old-version
          
          # Input 4: debug_mode (optional)
          debug_mode: true
      
      # Output 1: output_1
      - name: Check Service
        run: echo "Service validation: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.output_1 }}"
      
      # Output 2: output_2
      - name: Check Environment
        run: echo "Environment check: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.output_2 }}"
      
      # Output 3: output_3
      - name: Check Version
        run: echo "Version check: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.output_3 }}"
      
      # Using outputs in conditionals
      - name: Deploy
        if: |
          steps.evaluate.outputs.output_1 == 'valid-service' &&
          steps.evaluate.outputs.output_2 == 'production-deploy' &&
          steps.evaluate.outputs.output_3 == 'new-version'
        run: echo "All checks passed, deploying..."

FilesExpand file tree

api.md

Latest commit

History

api.md

File metadata and controls

API Reference

Table of Contents

Inputs

conditions

Example:

Constraints:

Supported Formats:

true_values

Example:

Constraints:

Best Practices:

false_values

Example:

Constraints:

Best Practices:

default_values

Example:

Use Cases:

case_sensitive

Example:

When Disabled (false):

Use Cases:

debug_mode

Example:

When Enabled:

Debug Output Example:

Use Cases:

Outputs

result Output

Example:

Output Format

Output Reference Table

Using Outputs

In Workflow Steps:

In Job Outputs:

Limits and Constraints

Maximum Conditions

Enforcement:

Workaround:

Array Length Matching

Error Example:

Correct:

Variable Name Requirements

Valid:

Invalid:

Environment Variables

Setting Environment Variables

Method 1: Workflow-level

Method 2: Job-level

Method 3: Step-level

Method 4: Using env-output-setter (Recommended)

Variable Substitution

Undefined Variables

Complete Example

See Also

`conditions`

`true_values`

`false_values`

`default_values`

`case_sensitive`

When Disabled (`false`):

`debug_mode`

`result` Output