What is the purpose of the code snippet ($start >= $total) ? $total - $limit : $start in PHP?

The purpose of the code snippet ($start >= $total) ? $total - $limit : $start in PHP is to calculate a new value for the starting index based on the total number of items and the limit. If the current starting index is greater than or equal to the total number of items, it will set the new starting index to $total - $limit to ensure that the pagination does not go beyond the total number of items. Otherwise, it will keep the starting index as it is.

$new_start = ($start >= $total) ? $total - $limit : $start;