What is the proper way to initialize empty strings in PHP?

Question

In C#, I've come to adopt the following method of initializing empty strings:

string account = string.empty; 

rather than

string account = ""; 

According to my mentor and other C# developers I've talked to, the first method is the better practice.

That said, is there a better way to initialize empty strings in PHP? Currently, I see the following widely used:

$account = ''; 

Thanks.

Answer 1

What you're doing is correct. Not much more to say about it.

Example:

$account = '';  if ($condition)  $account .= 'Some text';  echo  $account; 

You could get silly and do something like this:

$str = (string) NULL; 

..but that's utterly pointless, and it's exactly the same thing - an empty string.

You're doing it right.