Reputation: 69647

How do I check for an empty/undefined/null string in JavaScript?

Is there a string.Empty in JavaScript, or is it just a case of checking for ""?

Upvotes: 4111

Answers (30)

Constantin De La Roche

Reputation: 3270

function isNull(input) {
  return input == null;
}

function isEmpty(input) {
  return (!input && input !== 0) || input.length === 0 || (Object.getPrototypeOf(input) === Object.prototype && Object.getOwnPropertyNames(input).length === 0);
}

function isBlank(input) {
  return isNull(input) || isEmpty(input);
}

function isPresent(input) {
  return !isBlank(input);
}

isPresent(undefined) === false &&
isPresent(null) === false &&
isPresent("") === false &&
isPresent([]) === false &&
isPresent({}) === false &&
isPresent(0) === true &&
isPresent(1) === true &&
isPresent("Hello") === true &&
isPresent([1, 2, 3]) === true &&
isPresent({ name: "John" }) === true
// => true

PS: You can copy past this code into your browser console to verify

Upvotes: 2

Oleksandr Poshtaruk

Reputation: 2146

I use such approach

[null, undefined, ''].includes(value)

Upvotes: 5

trn450

Reputation: 341

There is a lot of useful information here, but in my opinion, one of the most important elements was not addressed.

null, undefined, and "" are all falsy.

When evaluating an empty string, it's often because you need to replace it with something else.

In this case, you can expect the following behavior.

var a = ""
var b = null
var c = undefined

console.log(a || "falsy string provided") // prints ->"falsy string provided"
console.log(b || "falsy string provided") // prints ->"falsy string provided"
console.log(c || "falsy string provided") // prints ->"falsy string provided"

With that in mind, a method or function that can return whether or not a string is "", null, or undefined (an invalid string) versus a valid string is as simple as this:

const validStr = (str) => str ? true : false

validStr(undefined) // returns false
validStr(null) // returns false
validStr("") // returns false
validStr("My String") // returns true

Please note, you probably also want to trim() the string since "" !== " ".

Upvotes: 29

Timothy Nwanwene

Reputation: 1033

check that var a; exist

trim out the false spaces in the value, then test for emptiness

 if ((a)&&(a.trim()!=''))
 {
   // if variable a is not empty do this 
 }

Upvotes: 23

Ibraheem

Reputation: 2358

if ((input?.trim()?.length || 0) > 0) {
   // input must not be any of:
   // undefined
   // null
   // ""
   // " " or just whitespace
}

Or in function form:

const isNotNilOrWhitespace = input => (input?.trim()?.length || 0) > 0;

const isNilOrWhitespace = input => (input?.trim()?.length || 0) === 0;

Explanation:

If input is undefined or null then the null coalescing ?. will result in input?.trim()?.length will be undefined or null. ORing (||) that with 0 will give 0. 0 is not > 0 therefore the result will be false, ie it IS a nil value.

If input is empty or whitespace then .trim() will remove leading and ending whitespace, which will keep an empty input the same, and convert any whitespace to an empty value. The length of an empty string is then 0, and as above, 0 is not > 0, therefore the result will be false, ie it IS empty or only whitespace.

If input is any other string, it's length will be > 0 after calling .trim(), and therefore the result will be true, ie it IS NOT a nil value, and it IS NOT empty or only whitespace.

Upvotes: 29

perona chan

Reputation: 191

complete example. use Object.keys() for types string,array, and object

function isEmpty(input){
    switch(typeof input){
      case 'undefined': return true
      case 'string':
      case 'object':
         return Object.keys(input).length == 0
      case 'boolean':
      case 'bigint':
      case 'number': return input == 0
    }
}
function log(...logs){
   for(let i = 0;i < logs.length;i++){
     if(i % 2 == 1){
        console.log(logs[i - 1],'=', logs[i])
     }
   }
}
log(
   isEmpty(),      'empty undefined',   // true
   isEmpty(''),    'empty string',      // true
   isEmpty('abc'), 'empty string',      // false
   isEmpty([]),    'empty array',       // true
   isEmpty([2,3]), 'empty array',       // false
   isEmpty({}),    'empty object',      // true
   isEmpty({a: 'abc'}), 'empty object', // false
   isEmpty(false), 'empty boolean',     // true
   isEmpty(true),  'empty boolean',     // false
   isEmpty(0n),    'empty bigint',      // true
   isEmpty(2n),    'empty bigint',      // false
   isEmpty(0),     'empty number',      // true
   isEmpty(2),     'empty number'       // false
)

Upvotes: 1

mtotowamkwe

Reputation: 3037

Using core (read vanilla) javascript we can leverage Object.is() for strict equality comparison. Following is a code snippet.

function validateString(arg) {
 if (Object.is(arg, "") || Object.is(arg, null) || Object.is(arg, undefined)) {
      return false;
 }
 return true;
}

Here is the JavaScript spec: https://262.ecma-international.org/12.0/#sec-object.is

Here is the Mozilla Doc: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object/is

Hope this helps.

Upvotes: 3

Kristiyan Tsvetanov

Reputation: 1047

Check if it's type string AND if it's not empty:

const isNonEmptyString = (val) => typeof val === 'string' && !!val

Upvotes: 7

Tasos Tsournos

Reputation: 353

You can check this using the typeof operator along with the length method.

const isNonEmptyString = (value) => typeof(value) == 'string' && value.length > 0

Upvotes: 5

CrazyStack

Reputation: 169

The ultimate and shortest variant of the isBlank function:

/**
 * Will return:
 * False for: for all strings with chars
 * True for: false, null, undefined, 0, 0.0, "", " ".
 *
 * @param str
 * @returns {boolean}
 */
function isBlank(str){
    return (!!!str || /^\s*$/.test(str));
}

// tests
console.log("isBlank TRUE variants:");
console.log(isBlank(false));
console.log(isBlank(undefined));
console.log(isBlank(null));
console.log(isBlank(0));
console.log(isBlank(0.0));
console.log(isBlank(""));
console.log(isBlank(" "));

console.log("isBlank FALSE variants:");
console.log(isBlank("0"));
console.log(isBlank("0.0"));
console.log(isBlank(" 0"));
console.log(isBlank("0 "));
console.log(isBlank("Test string"));
console.log(isBlank("true"));
console.log(isBlank("false"));
console.log(isBlank("null"));
console.log(isBlank("undefined"));

Upvotes: 4

Anis KCHAOU

Reputation: 1104

Try this code:

function isEmpty(strValue)
{
    // Test whether strValue is empty
    if (!strValue || strValue.trim() === "" ||
        (strValue.trim()).length === 0) {
        // Do something
    }
}

Upvotes: 5

Ali Yaghoubi

Reputation: 1280

This is a falsy value.

The first solution:

const str = "";
return str || "Hello"

The second solution:

const str = "";
return (!!str) || "Hello"; // !!str is Boolean

The third solution:

const str = "";
return (+str) || "Hello"; // !!str is Boolean

Upvotes: 4

sMyles

Reputation: 2666

Here are some custom functions I use for handling this. Along with examples of how the code runs.

const v1 = 0
const v2 = '4'
const v2e = undefined
const v2e2 = null
const v3 = [1, 2, 3, 4]
const v3e = []
const v4 = true
const v4e = false
const v5 = {
  test: 'value'
}
const v5e = {}
const v6 = 'NotEmpty'
const v6e = ''

function isNumeric(n) {
  return !isNaN(parseFloat(n)) && isFinite(n)
}

function isEmpty(v, zeroIsEmpty = false) {
  /**
   * When doing a typeof check, null will always return "object" so we filter that out first
   * @see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/typeof#typeof_null
   */
  if (v === null) {
    return true
  }

  if (v === true) {
    return false
  }

  if (typeof v === 'object') {
    return !Object.keys(v).length
  }

  if (isNumeric(v)) {
    return zeroIsEmpty ? parseFloat(v) === 0 : false
  }

  return !v || !v.length || v.length < 1
}

console.log(isEmpty(v1), isEmpty(v1, true))
console.log(isEmpty(v2), isEmpty(v2e), isEmpty(v2e))
console.log(isEmpty(v3), isEmpty(v3e))
console.log(isEmpty(v4), isEmpty(v4e))
console.log(isEmpty(v5), isEmpty(v5e))
console.log(isEmpty(v6), isEmpty(v6e))

Also for reference, here's the source for Lodash isEmpty:

Upvotes: 0

bdukes

Reputation: 155895

Empty string, undefined, null, ...

To check for a truthy value:

if (strValue) {
    // strValue was non-empty string, true, 42, Infinity, [], ...
}

To check for a falsy value:

if (!strValue) {
    // strValue was empty string, false, 0, null, undefined, ...
}

Empty string (only!)

To check for exactly an empty string, compare for strict equality against "" using the === operator:

if (strValue === "") {
    // strValue was empty string
}

To check for not an empty string strictly, use the !== operator:

if (strValue !== "") {
    // strValue was not an empty string
}

Upvotes: 5061

Jano González

Reputation: 14824

For checking if a variable is falsey or if it has length attribute equal to zero (which for a string, means it is empty), I use:

function isEmpty(str) {
    return (!str || str.length === 0 );
}

_{(Note that strings aren't the only variables with a length attribute, arrays have them as well, for example.)}

Alternativaly, you can use the (not so) newly optional chaining and arrow functions to simplify:

const isEmpty = (str) => (!str?.length);

It will check the length, returning undefined in case of a nullish value, without throwing an error. In the case of an empty value, zero is falsy and the result is still valid.

For checking if a variable is falsey or if the string only contains whitespace or is empty, I use:

function isBlank(str) {
    return (!str || /^\s*$/.test(str));
}

If you want, you can monkey-patch the String prototype like this:

String.prototype.isEmpty = function() {
    // This doesn't work the same way as the isEmpty function used 
    // in the first example, it will return true for strings containing only whitespace
    return (this.length === 0 || !this.trim());
};
console.log("example".isEmpty());

_{Note that monkey-patching built-in types are controversial, as it can break code that depends on the existing structure of built-in types, for whatever reason.}

Upvotes: 1441

Jet

Reputation: 1325

I use:

function empty(e) {
  switch (e) {
    case "":
    case 0:
    case "0":
    case null:
    case false:
    case undefined:
      return true;
    default:
      return false;
  }
}

empty(null) // true
empty(0) // true
empty(7) // false
empty("") // true
empty((function() {
    return ""
})) // false

Upvotes: 82

karthick.sk

Reputation: 5729

All the previous answers are good, but this will be even better. Use dual NOT operators (!!):

if (!!str) {
    // Some code here
}

Or use type casting:

if (Boolean(str)) {
    // Code here
}

Both do the same function. Typecast the variable to Boolean, where str is a variable.

It returns false for null, undefined, 0, 000, "", false.
It returns true for all string values other than the empty string (including strings like "0" and " ")

Upvotes: 564

Will

Reputation: 6286

I use a combination, and the fastest checks are first.

function isBlank(pString) {
    if (!pString) {
        return true;
    }
    // Checks for a non-white space character
    // which I think [citation needed] is faster
    // than removing all the whitespace and checking
    // against an empty string
    return !/[^\s]+/.test(pString);
}

Upvotes: 15

Labham Jain

Reputation: 315

Well, the simplest function to check this is...

const checkEmpty = string => (string.trim() === "") || !string.trim();

Usage:

checkEmpty(""); // returns true.
checkEmpty("mystr"); // returns false.

It's that dead simple. :)

Upvotes: -2

Alban Kaperi

Reputation: 625

To check if it is empty:

var str = "Hello World!";
if(str === ''){alert("THE string str is EMPTY");}

To check if it is of type string:

var str = "Hello World!";
if(typeof(str) === 'string'){alert("This is a String");}

Upvotes: -11

sean

Reputation: 917

Trimming whitespace with the null-coalescing operator:

if (!str?.trim()) {
  // do something...
}

Upvotes: 11

tfont

Reputation: 11233

A lot of answers, and a lot of different possibilities!

Without a doubt for quick and simple implementation the winner is: if (!str.length) {...}

However, as many other examples are available. The best functional method to go about this, I would suggest:

function empty(str)
{
    if (typeof str == 'undefined' || !str || str.length === 0 || str === "" || !/[^\s]/.test(str) || /^\s*$/.test(str) || str.replace(/\s/g,"") === "")
        return true;
    else
        return false;
}

A bit excessive, I know.

Upvotes: 23

T.Todua

Reputation: 56341

Very generic "All-In-One" Function (not recommended though):

function is_empty(x)
{
    return (                                                           //don't put newline after return
        (typeof x == 'undefined')
              ||
        (x == null)
              ||
        (x == false)        //same as: !x
              ||
        (x.length == 0)
              ||
        (x == 0)            // note this line, you might not need this. 
              ||
        (x == "")
              ||
        (x.replace(/\s/g,"") == "")
              ||
        (!/[^\s]/.test(x))
              ||
        (/^\s*$/.test(x))
    );
}

However, I don't recommend to use that, because your target variable should be of specific type (i.e. string, or numeric, or object?), so apply the checks that are relative to that variable.

Upvotes: 44

Sazid

Reputation: 2827

You should always check for the type too, since JavaScript is a duck typed language, so you may not know when and how the data changed in the middle of the process. So, here's the better solution:

    let undefinedStr;
    if (!undefinedStr) {
      console.log("String is undefined");
    }
    
    let emptyStr = "";
    if (!emptyStr) {
      console.log("String is empty");
    }
    
    let nullStr = null;
    if (!nullStr) {
      console.log("String is null");
    }

Upvotes: 5

Kamil Kiełczewski

Reputation: 92347

Performance

I perform tests on macOS v10.13.6 (High Sierra) for 18 chosen solutions. Solutions works slightly different (for corner-case input data) which was presented in the snippet below.

Conclusions

the simple solutions based on !str,==,=== and length are fast for all browsers (A,B,C,G,I,J)
the solutions based on the regular expression (test,replace) and charAt are slowest for all browsers (H,L,M,P)
the solutions marked as fastest was fastest only for one test run - but in many runs it changes inside 'fast' solutions group

Details

In the below snippet I compare results of chosen 18 methods by use different input parameters

"" "a" " "- empty string, string with letter and string with space
[] {} f- array, object and function
0 1 NaN Infinity - numbers
true false - Boolean
null undefined

Not all tested methods support all input cases.

function A(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (!str)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function B(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (str == "")
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function C(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (str === "")
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function D(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || 0 === str.length)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function E(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || /^\s*$/.test(str))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function F(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!Boolean(str))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function G(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(! ((typeof str != 'undefined') && str) )
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function H(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!/\S/.test(str))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function I(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (!str.length)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function J(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(str.length <= 0)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function K(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(str.length === 0 || !str.trim())
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function L(str) {
  let r=1;
  if ( str.replace(/\s/g,"") == "")
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function M(str) {
  let r=1;
  if((/^\s*$/).test(str))
    r=0;
  return r;
}


function N(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || !str.trim().length)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function O(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || !str.trim())
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function P(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str.charAt(0))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function Q(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || (str.trim()==''))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function R(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (typeof str == 'undefined' ||
      !str ||
      str.length === 0 ||
      str === "" ||
      !/[^\s]/.test(str) ||
      /^\s*$/.test(str) ||
      str.replace(/\s/g,"") === "")

    r=0;
  return r;
}




// --- TEST ---

console.log(                  '   ""  "a"  " " [] {} 0 1 NaN Infinity f true false null undefined ');
let log1 = (s,f)=> console.log(`${s}: ${f("")}   ${f("a")}    ${f(" ")}   ${f([])}  ${f({})}  ${f(0)} ${f(1)} ${f(NaN)}   ${f(Infinity)}        ${f(f)} ${f(true)}    ${f(false)}     ${f(null)}    ${f(undefined)}`);
let log2 = (s,f)=> console.log(`${s}: ${f("")}   ${f("a")}    ${f(" ")}   ${f([])}  ${f({})}  ${f(0)} ${f(1)} ${f(NaN)}   ${f(Infinity)}        ${f(f)} ${f(true)}    ${f(false)}`);
let log3 = (s,f)=> console.log(`${s}: ${f("")}   ${f("a")}    ${f(" ")}`);

log1('A', A);
log1('B', B);
log1('C', C);
log1('D', D);
log1('E', E);
log1('F', F);
log1('G', G);
log1('H', H);

log2('I', I);
log2('J', J);

log3('K', K);
log3('L', L);
log3('M', M);
log3('N', N);
log3('O', O);
log3('P', P);
log3('Q', Q);
log3('R', R);

And then for all methods I perform speed test case str = "" for browsers Chrome v78.0.0, Safari v13.0.4, and Firefox v71.0.0 - you can run tests on your machine here

Upvotes: 75

Abhishek Luthra

Reputation: 2665

Starting with:

return (!value || value == undefined || value == "" || value.length == 0);

Looking at the last condition, if value == "", its length must be 0. Therefore drop it:

return (!value || value == undefined || value == "");

But wait! In JavaScript, an empty string is false. Therefore, drop value == "":

return (!value || value == undefined);

And !undefined is true, so that check isn't needed. So we have:

return (!value);

And we don't need parentheses:

return !value

Upvotes: 15

Davi Daniel Siepmann

Reputation: 189

I didn't see a good answer here (at least not an answer that fits for me)

So I decided to answer myself:

value === undefined || value === null || value === "";

You need to start checking if it's undefined. Otherwise your method can explode, and then you can check if it equals null or is equal to an empty string.

You cannot have !! or only if(value) since if you check 0 it's going to give you a false answer (0 is false).

With that said, wrap it up in a method like:

public static isEmpty(value: any): boolean { return value === undefined || value === null || value === ""; }

PS.: You don't need to check typeof, since it would explode and throw even before it enters the method

Upvotes: 13

Japesh

Reputation: 261

The following regular expression is another solution, that can be used for null, empty or undefined string.

(/(null|undefined|^$)/).test(null)

I added this solution, because it can be extended further to check empty or some value like as follow. The following regular expression is checking either string can be empty null undefined or it has integers only.

(/(null|undefined|^$|^\d+$)/).test()

Upvotes: 4

Moshi

Reputation: 1423

You can use lodash: _.isEmpty(value).

It covers a lot of cases like {}, '', null, undefined, etc.

But it always returns true for Number type of JavaScript primitive data types like _.isEmpty(10) or _.isEmpty(Number.MAX_VALUE) both returns true.

Upvotes: 62

Thaddeus Albers

Reputation: 4192

The Underscore.js JavaScript library, http://underscorejs.org/, provides a very useful _.isEmpty() function for checking for empty strings and other empty objects.

Reference: http://underscorejs.org/#isEmpty

isEmpty _.isEmpty(object)
Returns true if an enumerable object contains no values (no enumerable own-properties). For strings and array-like objects _.isEmpty checks if the length property is 0.

_.isEmpty([1, 2, 3]);
=> false

_.isEmpty({});
=> true

Other very useful Underscore.js functions include:

http://underscorejs.org/#isNull _.isNull(object)
http://underscorejs.org/#isUndefined
_.isUndefined(value)
http://underscorejs.org/#has _.has(object, key)

Upvotes: 4

How do I check for an empty/undefined/null string in JavaScript?

Answers (30)

Empty string, undefined, null, ...

Empty string (only!)

Performance

Details

Related Questions