PHP empty() | Check if Variable is Empty

The PHP empty() function is used when we need to check whether a specified variable is empty or not. For example:

<?php
   $x = "fresherearth";
   
   if(empty($s))
   {
      echo "The variable \$x is not empty";
   }
   else
   {
      echo "The variable \$x is empty";
   }
?>

The output of above PHP example on empty() function is shown in the snapshot given below:

PHP empty() Syntax

The syntax of empty() function in PHP, is:

empty(variable);

The variable parameter is required. The function empty() returns 1, if variable is empty. For example:

<?php
   $x = 10;
   echo "1: ", empty($x), "<BR>";
   
   $x = TRUE;
   echo "2: ", empty($x), "<BR>";
   
   echo "3: ", empty($x), "<BR>";
   
   $x = "PHP is Fun!";
   echo "4: ", empty($x), "<BR>";
   
   $x = NULL;
   echo "5: ", empty($x), "<BR>";
   
   $x = 0;
   echo "6: ", empty($x), "<BR>";
   
   $x = FALSE;
   echo "7: ", empty($x), "<BR>";
?>

The output of above PHP example should be:

1:
2:
3:
4:
5: 1
6: 1
7: 1

That is, when the value of variable parameter will be any of the following:

• NULL
• FALSE
• ""
• 0
• 0.0
• "0"
• array()

The empty() function will return 1.

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