Determine whether a variable is empty

doubleval
floatval
Variable handling Functions
PHP Manual

# empty

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

empty — Determine whether a variable is empty

### Description

bool empty ( mixed `$var` )

Determine whether a variable is considered to be empty. A variable is considered empty if it does not exist or if its value equals `FALSE`. empty() does not generate a warning if the variable does not exist.

### Parameters

`var`

  Variable to be checked

  > Note:

  > Prior to PHP 5.5, empty() only supports variables; anything else will result in a parse error. In other words, the following will not work: empty(trim($name)). Instead, use trim($name) == false.

  No warning is generated if the variable does not exist. That means empty() is essentially the concise equivalent to !isset($var) || $var == false.

### Return Values

Returns `FALSE` if `var` exists and has a non-empty, non-zero value. Otherwise returns `TRUE`.

The following things are considered to be empty:

- "" (an empty string)
- 0 (0 as an integer)
- 0.0 (0 as a float)
- "0" (0 as a string)
- `NULL`
- `FALSE`
- array() (an empty array)
- $var; (a variable declared, but without a value)

### Changelog

Version | Description
--- | ---
5.5.0 | empty() now supports expressions, rather than only variables.
5.4.0 | Checking non-numeric offsets of strings returns `TRUE`.

### 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';
}
?>`

Example #2 empty() on String Offsets

PHP 5.4 changes how empty() behaves when passed string offsets.

`<?php
$expected_array_got_string = 'somestring';
var_dump(empty($expected_array_got_string['some_key']));
var_dump(empty($expected_array_got_string[0]));
var_dump(empty($expected_array_got_string['0']));
var_dump(empty($expected_array_got_string[0.5]));
var_dump(empty($expected_array_got_string['0.5']));
var_dump(empty($expected_array_got_string['0 Mostel']));
?>`

Output of the above example in PHP 5.3:

    bool(false)
    bool(false)
    bool(false)
    bool(false)
    bool(false)
    bool(false)

Output of the above example in PHP 5.4:

    bool(true)
    bool(false)
    bool(false)
    bool(false)
    bool(true)
    bool(true)

### 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 something in an object
- strlen() - Get string length
- The type comparison tables

doubleval
floatval
Variable handling Functions
PHP Manual