'0' as a string with empty() in PHP

Question

I want a 0 to be considered as an integer and a '0' to be considered as a string, but empty() considers the '0' as a string in the example below,

$var = '0';  // Evaluates to true because $var is empty if (empty($var)) {     echo '$var is empty'; } 

How can I 'make' empty() to take '0's as strings?

Answer 1

You cannot make empty() take it. That is how it was designed. Instead you can write an and statement to test:

if (empty($var) && $var !== '0') {     echo $var . ' is empty'; } 

You could use isset, unless of course, you want it to turn away the other empties that empty checks for.

Answer 2

You cannot with empty. From the PHP Manual:

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)

You have to add an additional other check.