[mysql] How to check if field is null or empty in MySQL?

I am trying to figure out how to check if a field is NULL or empty. I have this:

SELECT IFNULL(field1, 'empty') as field1 from tablename

I need to add an additional check field1 != "" something like:

SELECT IFNULL(field1, 'empty') OR field1 != ""  as field1 from tablename

Any idea how to accomplish this?

You can use the IFNULL function inside the IF. This will be a little shorter, and there will be fewer repetitions of the field name.

SELECT IF(IFNULL(field1, '') = '', 'empty', field1) AS field1 
FROM tablename

If you would like to check in PHP , then you should do something like :

$query_s =mysql_query("SELECT YOURROWNAME from `YOURTABLENAME` where name = $name");
$ertom=mysql_fetch_array($query_s);
if ('' !== $ertom['YOURROWNAME']) {
  //do your action
  echo "It was filled";
} else { 
  echo "it was empty!";
}

You can create a function to make this easy.

create function IFEMPTY(s text, defaultValue text)
returns text deterministic
return if(s is null or s = '', defaultValue, s);

Using:

SELECT IFEMPTY(field1, 'empty') as field1 
from tablename

Alternatively you can also use CASE for the same:

SELECT CASE WHEN field1 IS NULL OR field1 = '' 
       THEN 'empty' 
       ELSE field1 END AS field1
FROM tablename.

SELECT * FROM ( 
    SELECT  2 AS RTYPE,V.ID AS VTYPE, DATE_FORMAT(ENTDT, ''%d-%m-%Y'')  AS ENTDT,V.NAME AS VOUCHERTYPE,VOUCHERNO,ROUND(IF((DR_CR)>0,(DR_CR),0),0) AS DR ,ROUND(IF((DR_CR)<0,(DR_CR)*-1,0),2) AS CR ,ROUND((dr_cr),2) AS BALAMT, IF(d.narr IS NULL OR d.narr='''',t.narration,d.narr) AS NARRATION 
    FROM trans_m AS t JOIN trans_dtl AS d ON(t.ID=d.TRANSID)
    JOIN acc_head L ON(D.ACC_ID=L.ID) 
    JOIN VOUCHERTYPE_M AS V ON(T.VOUCHERTYPE=V.ID)  
    WHERE T.CMPID=',COMPANYID,' AND  d.ACC_ID=',LEDGERID ,' AND t.entdt>=''',FROMDATE ,''' AND t.entdt<=''',TODATE ,''' ',VTYPE,'
    ORDER BY CAST(ENTDT AS DATE)) AS ta

Try using nullif:

SELECT ifnull(nullif(field1,''),'empty') AS field1
  FROM tablename;