Whats the best way in kotlin for an null object's toString() method to return an empty string instead of "null"

Question

According to the official kotlin documentation, the toString() call of a null object returns "null" toString()

I want, that toString() should return an empty string ("") instead. I implemented it with an extension function.

fun Any?.toEmptyStringIfNull() :String {
if (this == null) {
    return ""
} else {
    return toString()
}

I am wondering if this could be achieved simpler/easier/cleaner and without calling the extension function everytime.

Answer 1

How about:

nullable?.toString() ?: ""

or as Alexander Udalov suggested:

nullable?.toString().orEmpty()

Which one can wrap in an extension method:

fun Any?.toStringOrEmpty() = this?.toString() ?: ""

Answer 2

you can directly use nullable.orEmpty().

Reference: https://kotlinlang.org/api/latest/jvm/stdlib/kotlin.text/or-empty.html

Edit: Answer provided is incomplete - does only apply for String? and not Any? as pointed out in comment below.

Answer 3

nullable?.let {it.toString()}

If "nullable" is null it won't go further. As a variant. The only problem is that there will be a warning "redundant 'let' call could be removed.