What is the best way to test for an empty string in Go?

Question

Which method is best (more idomatic) for testing non-empty strings (in Go)?

if len(mystring) > 0 { }

Or:

if mystring != \"\"         


        

Answer 1

Checking for length is a good answer, but you could also account for an "empty" string that is also only whitespace. Not "technically" empty, but if you care to check:

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "strings"
)

func main() {
  stringOne := "merpflakes"
  stringTwo := "   "
  stringThree := ""

  if len(strings.TrimSpace(stringOne)) == 0 {
    fmt.Println("String is empty!")
  }

  if len(strings.TrimSpace(stringTwo)) == 0 {
    fmt.Println("String two is empty!")
  }

  if len(stringTwo) == 0 {
    fmt.Println("String two is still empty!")
  }

  if len(strings.TrimSpace(stringThree)) == 0 {
    fmt.Println("String three is empty!")
  }
}