Check string for nil & empty

Question

If you're dealing with optional Strings, this works:

(string ?? "").isEmpty

The ?? nil coalescing operator returns the left side if it's non-nil, otherwise it returns the right side.

You can also use it like this to return a default value:

(string ?? "").isEmpty ? "Default" : string!

You could perhaps use the if-let-where clause:

Swift 3:

if let string = string, !string.isEmpty {
    /* string is not blank */
}

Swift 2:

if let string = string where !string.isEmpty {
    /* string is not blank */
}

Using the guard statement

I was using Swift for a while before I learned about the guard statement. Now I am a big fan. It is used similarly to the if statement, but it allows for early return and just makes for much cleaner code in general.

To use guard when checking to make sure that a string is neither nil nor empty, you can do the following:

let myOptionalString: String? = nil

guard let myString = myOptionalString, !myString.isEmpty else {
    print("String is nil or empty.")
    return // or break, continue, throw
}

/// myString is neither nil nor empty (if this point is reached)
print(myString)

This unwraps the optional string and checks that it isn't empty all at once. If it is nil (or empty), then you return from your function (or loop) immediately and everything after it is ignored. But if the guard statement passes, then you can safely use your unwrapped string.

See Also

• Statements documentation
• The Guard Statement in Swift 2

If you are using Swift 2, here is an example my colleague came up with, which adds isNilOrEmpty property on optional Strings:

protocol OptionalString {}
extension String: OptionalString {}

extension Optional where Wrapped: OptionalString {
    var isNilOrEmpty: Bool {
        return ((self as? String) ?? "").isEmpty
    }
}

You can then use isNilOrEmpty on the optional string itself

func testNilOrEmpty() {
    let nilString:String? = nil
    XCTAssertTrue(nilString.isNilOrEmpty)

    let emptyString:String? = ""
    XCTAssertTrue(emptyString.isNilOrEmpty)

    let someText:String? = "lorem"
    XCTAssertFalse(someText.isNilOrEmpty)
}

With Swift 5, you can implement an Optional extension for String type with a boolean property that returns if an optional string is empty or has no value:

extension Optional where Wrapped == String {

    var isEmptyOrNil: Bool {
        return self?.isEmpty ?? true
    }

}

However, String implements isEmpty property by conforming to protocol Collection. Therefore we can replace the previous code's generic constraint (Wrapped == String) with a broader one (Wrapped: Collection) so that Array, Dictionary and Set also benefit our new isEmptyOrNil property:

extension Optional where Wrapped: Collection {

    var isEmptyOrNil: Bool {
        return self?.isEmpty ?? true
    }

}

---

Usage with Strings:

let optionalString: String? = nil
print(optionalString.isEmptyOrNil) // prints: true

let optionalString: String? = ""
print(optionalString.isEmptyOrNil) // prints: true

let optionalString: String? = "Hello"
print(optionalString.isEmptyOrNil) // prints: false

Usage with Arrays:

let optionalArray: Array<Int>? = nil
print(optionalArray.isEmptyOrNil) // prints: true

let optionalArray: Array<Int>? = []
print(optionalArray.isEmptyOrNil) // prints: true

let optionalArray: Array<Int>? = [10, 22, 3]
print(optionalArray.isEmptyOrNil) // prints: false

---

Sources:

• swiftbysundell.com - Extending optionals in Swift
• objc.io - Swift Tip: Non-Empty Collections

var str: String? = nil

if str?.isEmpty ?? true {
    print("str is nil or empty")
}

str = ""

if str?.isEmpty ?? true {
    print("str is nil or empty")
}

I know there are a lot of answers to this question, but none of them seems to be as convenient as this (in my opinion) to validate UITextField data, which is one of the most common cases for using it:

extension Optional where Wrapped == String {
    var isNilOrEmpty: Bool {
        return self?.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces).isEmpty ?? true
    }
}

You can just use

textField.text.isNilOrEmpty

You can also skip the .trimmingCharacters(in:.whitespaces) if you don't consider whitespaces as an empty string or use it for more complex input tests like

var isValidInput: Bool {
    return !isNilOrEmpty && self!.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces).characters.count >= MIN_CHARS
}