How to test more than one var if is empty in PHP?

Question

How can i test a var if its empty or not? i have this array

array($myname,$myhouse,$mywife);

how can i check each of them if it empty or not without using a loop?

Answer 1

Try isset()

Edit- Use the code posted above, but change the function:

$myvars = array($myname, $myhouse, $mywife);
foreach ($myvars as $value) {
 if (isset($value)) {
  // Not set
 }
}

According to this, isset is marginally faster.

Answer 2

$myvars = array($myname, $myhouse, $mywife);
foreach ($myvars as $value) {
  if (empty($value)) {
    // value is empty
  }
}

edit: Here is a version which does not use a loop:

$myvars = array($myname, $myhouse, $mywife);
$myvars_filtered = array_filter($myvars, "empty"); // or isset, if you prefer
if (count($myvars_filtered) > 0) {
  // one or more values were empty
}

Note that, as Felix commented, when you use "isset" instead of "empty", you will get all values that have a value, instead of the ones that don't. So in that case you need to compare the amount of elements in $myvars to the count of elements in $myvars_filtered.

Answer 3

What you're asking for is either impossible or facetious. You either need to explicitly test each variable by name or use a loop to test a dynamic collection of variables.

Answer 4

One line (except the function of course):

function not_empty($val) {
    return !empty($val);
}

$result = array_product(array_map('not_empty',$array));

The result is 0 if one variable is empty otherwise 1.
But of course it won't tell which one is empty. ;)

See array_map, array_product.

Answer 5

If you mean without writing a loop then you can use:

in_array(true, array_map(create_function('$x', 'return empty($x);'),$array));

Implicitly it will of course loop through your array, twice in fact! Once to check the emptiness, then again to check the result. You're better of with a loop you can break when you hit a non_empty value.

Answer 6

Another solution that doesnt use a loop:

<?php
$my_house = "";
$my_name = "Foo Bar";
$my_wife = "Angelina";

$arr = array($my_house, $my_name, $my_wife);
preg_replace("/.+/","-",$arr,-1,$count);
if ($count == 3) {
  # everything is filled
} else {
  # missing somehwere
}
?>

Answer 7

Sure there are ways to do it. One of them:

<?php
$array = array('myname' => 'Jakob', 'myhouse' => '', 'mywife' => 1);

$empty_elements = array("");
$array = array_keys(array_intersect($array,$empty_elements));

var_dump($array);
?>

outputs:

array 0 => string 'myhouse'

Some other possibilities for a similiar problem (removing the empty ones): http://hasin.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/removing-empty-elements-from-an-array-the-php-way/