How does the ternary operator in PHP work when setting variables based on POST data?

When setting variables based on POST data in PHP, the ternary operator can be used to check if a POST variable is set and assign a default value if it is not. This can help prevent errors when trying to access POST data that may not exist.

// Example of setting variables based on POST data using the ternary operator
$username = isset($_POST['username']) ? $_POST['username'] : '';
$email = isset($_POST['email']) ? $_POST['email'] : '';