custom empty() function

Question

Today I've created a function called is_empty(). The function is similar to already existing empty() function - it adds a few more checks that are required by my script.

However, now when I run the script and some value is not set, I get the: Notice: Undefined index notice. The default empty() function display this notice and it assumes the value is empty, is there some way to configure my function to do the same? Instead of using isset() together with is_empty()?

Thank you very much!

EDIT: My function is here:

function is_empty($value, $integer = FALSE){
    if($integer){
        return empty($value) && !is_numeric($value);
    }
    return empty($value);
}

... without your function code, this isn't much that can be done — PlantTheIdea, Apr 08 '13 at 22:01
`empty()` is not a function, you cannot implement something that behaves like it. — zerkms, Apr 08 '13 at 22:02
Post your code. And i'm wondering what kind of checks you function does that are not covered by empty? — rinchik, Apr 08 '13 at 22:04
`$return` isn't used by your code. The regex line is useless. — zerkms, Apr 08 '13 at 22:06

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 08 '13 at 22:04

The notice does not come from some checks you do inside your function. The notice comes from passing some argument to your function, i.e. before the function body is actually executed. Therefore, you cannot change this by implementing the function in a different way.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 08 '13 at 22:07

1

i would do something like this:

  function is_empty($value, $integer = FALSE){
    if (!empty($value)){
    if($integer !== FALSE){
        $return = preg_replace("/[^0-9]+/", "", $value);
        return empty($value) && !is_numeric($value);
    }
    return empty($value);
    }
    return FALSE;
    }

answered Apr 08 '13 at 22:07

rinchik

2,642
8
29
46

`empty()` calls make no sense in your code. You may remove them and **nothing** would change. so `if (!empty($value)){` -> `if (!$value){` etc – zerkms Apr 09 '13 at 04:48
@zerkms `empty` will suppress the Undefined var notice. – rinchik Apr 09 '13 at 14:08
As soon as it's passed as a function argument - it's **ALWAYS** defined. – zerkms Apr 09 '13 at 20:55

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

1

Here is my version of is_empty function

function is_empty(&$var)
{
    return is_string($var) ? trim( $var ) == '' : empty($var);
}

The solution is to pass variable by reference.

Here is another sample like this:

custom function that uses isset() returning undefined variables when used

Hope this will help.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

Community

1
1

answered Jun 01 '15 at 15:50

Ibrahim Khalil

41
1
4

custom empty() function

3 Answers3