What will the following C statement print? printf("%d", 10 ? 0 ? 5 : 1 : 12);

Concept: In C, the conditional operator condition ? expression_if_true : expression_if_false treats zero as false and any nonzero value as true.

Only the selected branch is evaluated. Nested conditional operators group according to C grammar; the middle operand after ? can itself be another conditional expression.

Application: Evaluate the nested conditions from the branch selected by the outer condition.

1. Rewrite the statement with standard spacing: printf("%d", 10 ? 0 ? 5 : 1 : 12);

2. The outer condition is 10. Because 10 is nonzero, evaluate the middle expression 0 ? 5 : 1; the outer false branch 12 is not selected.

3. The inner condition is 0, so it selects its false expression, 1; the value 5 is not selected.

4. Therefore printf receives the integer 1 for the %d conversion and prints 1.

Cross-check: Explicit parentheses give printf("%d", 10 ? (0 ? 5 : 1) : 12). The inner expression evaluates to 1, and the nonzero outer condition selects it.

Result: The statement prints 1.