safe navigation operators

Noun

safe navigation operator (plural safe navigation operators)

1. A binary operator that returns its second argument, unless the first argument is null, in which case it returns null; used to simplify code that would otherwise need multiple explicit checks for nullity.
   • One operator I haven't talked about yet is the safe navigation operator (?.). By preceding a dot with a question mark, you can safely navigate to methods or properties of an object even if that object is null.2009, Bashar Jawad, Groovy and Grails Recipes, page 57