Published in Laravel 5

Laravel 5: Determining if a Variable Holds a Value With blank

By John Koster

The blank function is used to determine if the provided value contains a value that is not null, or a non empty value. It can be useful to check arguments supplied to functions for values without having to check many different types specifically. A value is considered blank or empty if any of the following conditions are true:

  • The value is null,
  • The value is a string and contains only whitespace or is of length 0,
  • The value is not numeric,
  • The value is not a boolean value,
  • The value is a Countable object and contains no items,
  • the PHP empty evaluates to true

#Signature

The signature of the blank function is:

1function blank(

2    $value

3);

#Example Use

The following example demonstrates the basic usage of the blank function:

1// Set a value to null.

2$testValue = null;

3

4if (blank($testValue)) {

5    // Perform some action when the value is blank.

6} else {

7    // Perform a different action when the

8    // supplied value is not blank.

9}

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