Question

i used this way to testing an array $arr if empty

if(!empty($arr)){ //do something }

recently, i saw someone use an another like:

if($arr){ //do something }

just want to know is’t the second way a simply way to testing an array or is there some potential risk here ?

Answer 1

An empty array like array() is regarded as equal to false. So a simple if ($arr) works perfectly fine.

empty does the same kind of comparison, but does not trigger a NOTICE about missing variables, should the variable $arr not exist at all. You should not use empty if you are sure the variable exists, since it suppresses valuable error reporting. Only use empty if you really don’t know whether a variable exists or not and have no control over it.

For more information about empty see The Definitive Guide To PHP’s isset And empty.