35 lines
1.2 KiB
Markdown
35 lines
1.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: How can I check if a string is empty in Python?
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shortTitle: String is empty
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type: question
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tags: [python,string]
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author: chalarangelo
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cover: tea-laptop-table
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excerpt: Here are two quick and elegant ways to check if a string is empty in Python.
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dateModified: 2022-08-05T05:00:00-04:00
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---
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When working with Python strings, a pretty common question is how does one check if a string is empty. There's a straightforward answer to this that takes advantage of the truth value of strings.
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In Python, any object can be tested for truth value, including strings. In this context, **strings are considered truthy if they are non-empty**, meaning they contain at least one character. Thus, simply using the `not` operator, you can check if a string is empty.
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```py
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empty_string = ''
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non_empty_string = 'Hello'
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not empty_string # True
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not non_empty_string # False
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```
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While this method works in most cases, you may also need to check if the actual value is a string. In this case, you can compare your string to the empty string using the `==` operator.
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```py
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empty_string = ''
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non_empty_string = 'Hello'
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non_string = 0
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empty_string == '' # True
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non_empty_string == '' # False
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non_string == '' # False
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```
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