How can I check for an empty/undefined/null string in JavaScript?

Question

I saw this question, but I didn\'t see a JavaScript specific example. Is there a simple string.Empty available in JavaScript, or is it just a case of checking f

Answer 1

As of now there is no direct method like string.empty to check whether a string is empty or not. But in your code you can use a wrapper check for an empty string like:

// considering the variable in which your string is saved is named str.

if (str && str.length>0) { 

  // Your code here which you want to run if the string is not empty.

}

Using this you can also make sure that string is not undefined or null too. Remember, undefined, null and empty are three different things.

Answer 2

To check if it is exactly an empty string:

if(val==="")...

To check if it is an empty string OR a logical equivalent for no-value (null, undefined, 0, NaN, false, ...):

if(!val)...

Answer 3

Performance

I perform tests on macOS v10.13.6 (High Sierra) for 18 chosen solutions. Solutions works slightly different (for corner-case input data) which was presented in the snippet below.

Conclusions

• the simple solutions based on !str,==,=== and length are fast for all browsers (A,B,C,G,I,J)
• the solutions based on the regular expression (test,replace) and charAt are slowest for all browsers (H,L,M,P)
• the solutions marked as fastest was fastest only for one test run - but in many runs it changes inside 'fast' solutions group

Details

In the below snippet I compare results of chosen 18 methods by use different input parameters

• "" "a" " "- empty string, string with letter and string with space
• [] {} f- array, object and function
• 0 1 NaN Infinity - numbers
• true false - Boolean
• null undefined

Not all tested methods support all input cases.

function A(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (!str)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function B(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (str == "")
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function C(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (str === "")
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function D(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || 0 === str.length)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function E(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || /^\s*$/.test(str))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function F(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!Boolean(str))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function G(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(! ((typeof str != 'undefined') && str) )
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function H(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!/\S/.test(str))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function I(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (!str.length)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function J(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(str.length <= 0)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function K(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(str.length === 0 || !str.trim())
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function L(str) {
  let r=1;
  if ( str.replace(/\s/g,"") == "")
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function M(str) {
  let r=1;
  if((/^\s*$/).test(str))
    r=0;
  return r;
}


function N(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || !str.trim().length)
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function O(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || !str.trim())
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function P(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str.charAt(0))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function Q(str) {
  let r=1;
  if(!str || (str.trim()==''))
    r=0;
  return r;
}

function R(str) {
  let r=1;
  if (typeof str == 'undefined' ||
      !str ||
      str.length === 0 ||
      str === "" ||
      !/[^\s]/.test(str) ||
      /^\s*$/.test(str) ||
      str.replace(/\s/g,"") === "")

    r=0;
  return r;
}




// --- TEST ---

console.log(                  '   ""  "a"  " " [] {} 0 1 NaN Infinity f true false null undefined ');
let log1 = (s,f)=> console.log(`${s}: ${f("")}   ${f("a")}    ${f(" ")}   ${f([])}  ${f({})}  ${f(0)} ${f(1)} ${f(NaN)}   ${f(Infinity)}        ${f(f)} ${f(true)}    ${f(false)}     ${f(null)}    ${f(undefined)}`);
let log2 = (s,f)=> console.log(`${s}: ${f("")}   ${f("a")}    ${f(" ")}   ${f([])}  ${f({})}  ${f(0)} ${f(1)} ${f(NaN)}   ${f(Infinity)}        ${f(f)} ${f(true)}    ${f(false)}`);
let log3 = (s,f)=> console.log(`${s}: ${f("")}   ${f("a")}    ${f(" ")}`);

log1('A', A);
log1('B', B);
log1('C', C);
log1('D', D);
log1('E', E);
log1('F', F);
log1('G', G);
log1('H', H);

log2('I', I);
log2('J', J);

log3('K', K);
log3('L', L);
log3('M', M);
log3('N', N);
log3('O', O);
log3('P', P);
log3('Q', Q);
log3('R', R);

And then for all methods I perform speed test case str = "" for browsers Chrome v78.0.0, Safari v13.0.4, and Firefox v71.0.0 - you can run tests on your machine here

Answer 4

A lot of answers, and a lot of different possibilities!

Without a doubt for quick and simple implementation the winner is: if (!str.length) {...}

However, as many other examples are available. The best functional method to go about this, I would suggest:

function empty(str)
{
    if (typeof str == 'undefined' || !str || str.length === 0 || str === "" || !/[^\s]/.test(str) || /^\s*$/.test(str) || str.replace(/\s/g,"") === "")
        return true;
    else
        return false;
}

A bit excessive, I know.

Answer 5

I use:

function empty(e) {
  switch (e) {
    case "":
    case 0:
    case "0":
    case null:
    case false:
    case typeof(e) == "undefined":
      return true;
    default:
      return false;
  }
}

empty(null) // true
empty(0) // true
empty(7) // false
empty("") // true
empty((function() {
    return ""
})) // false

Answer 6

Try:

if (str && str.trim().length) {  
    //...
}