How to Implement React Conditional Rendering

What is Conditional Rendering in React?

Conditional rendering is a concept in React that allows you to display different things depending on different conditions. This means you have control over what should be shown to the user and what should be hidden. It works just like regular JavaScript conditions but inside your React components.

In this guide, we will go through the different ways you can render elements conditionally in React.

Common Use Cases

There are many situations where you’ll need to use conditional rendering. For example:

• If you’re fetching data from an API, you might want to show a loading message while waiting for the data.

• If a user is logged in, you may want to display a personalized welcome message.

• If a form is empty, you might want to show an error message.

React gives you different methods to handle this depending on how complex the condition is.

1. Using If Statements

This is the most straightforward method. You can declare a condition before returning your JSX. Here's a simple example:

function WelcomeMessage({ isLoggedIn }) {
  if (isLoggedIn) {
    return <h2>Welcome back!</h2>;
  }

  return <h2>Please log in.</h2>;
}

Here, the message that gets displayed depends on the value of isLoggedIn.

2. Using the Ternary Operator (? :)

The ternary operator is useful when you have a short condition. It works inside JSX like this:

function UserGreeting({ isLoggedIn }) {
  return (
    <div>
      {isLoggedIn ? <h3>Hello, User!</h3> : <h3>You are not logged in.</h3>}
    </div>
  );
}

This is helpful when you want to render one thing if the condition is true and another if it’s false, all in one line.

3. Using the Logical AND Operator (&&)

This is good when you want to render something only when a condition is true. Nothing will be rendered if the condition is false.

function Notification({ hasNewMessage }) {
  return (
    <div>
      {hasNewMessage && <p>You have a new message.</p>}
    </div>
  );
}

Here, the message will only show if hasNewMessage is true.

Conclusion

Conditional rendering in React allows you to control what gets shown in your UI based on different conditions. You can use if, if-else, the ternary operator, or the && operator depending on what makes the most sense for your situation.

As you build more React components, you’ll use this a lot—especially when working with APIs, handling user sessions, or building dynamic interfaces.

Practice each method and try them out in small projects. Over time, you’ll know which one to use just by looking at the problem.