empty
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
empty — Determine whether a variable is empty
Parameters
- var
-
Variable to be checked
Note:
empty() only checks variables as anything else will result in a parse error. In other words, the following will not work: empty(trim($name)).
empty() is the opposite of (boolean) var, except that no warning is generated when the variable is not set.
Return Values
Returns FALSE if var has a non-empty and non-zero value.
The following things are considered to be empty:
- "" (an empty string)
- 0 (0 as an integer)
- "0" (0 as a string)
- NULL
- FALSE
- array() (an empty array)
- var $var; (a variable declared, but without a value in a class)
Changelog
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| PHP 5 |
As of PHP 5, objects with no properties are no longer considered empty. |
Examples
Example #1 A simple empty() / isset() comparison.
<?php
$var = 0;
// Evaluates to true because $var is empty
if (empty($var)) {
echo '$var is either 0, empty, or not set at all';
}
// Evaluates as true because $var is set
if (isset($var)) {
echo '$var is set even though it is empty';
}
?>
Notes
Note: Because this is a language construct and not a function, it cannot be called using variable functions
Note:
When using empty() on inaccessible object properties, the __isset overloading method will be called, if declared.
See Also
- isset() - Determine if a variable is set and is not NULL
- __isset
- unset() - Unset a given variable
- array_key_exists() - Checks if the given key or index exists in the array
- count() - Count all elements in an array, or properties in an object
- strlen() - Get string length
- The type comparison tables