[c#] string.IsNullOrEmpty(string) vs. string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(string)

Is use of string.IsNullOrEmpty(string) when checking a string considered as bad practice when there is string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(string) in .NET 4.0 and above?

They are different functions. You should decide for your situation what do you need.

I don't consider using any of them as a bad practice. Most of the time IsNullOrEmpty() is enough. But you have the choice :)

In the .Net standard 2.0:

string.IsNullOrEmpty(): Indicates whether the specified string is null or an Empty string.

Console.WriteLine(string.IsNullOrEmpty(null));           // True
Console.WriteLine(string.IsNullOrEmpty(""));             // True
Console.WriteLine(string.IsNullOrEmpty(" "));            // False
Console.WriteLine(string.IsNullOrEmpty("  "));           // False

string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(): Indicates whether a specified string is null, empty, or consists only of white-space characters.

Console.WriteLine(string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(null));     // True
Console.WriteLine(string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(""));       // True
Console.WriteLine(string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(" "));      // True
Console.WriteLine(string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace("  "));     // True

It says it all IsNullOrEmpty() does not include white spacing while IsNullOrWhiteSpace() does!

IsNullOrEmpty() If string is:
-Null
-Empty

IsNullOrWhiteSpace() If string is:
-Null
-Empty
-Contains White Spaces Only

Here is the actual implementation of both methods ( decompiled using dotPeek)

[TargetedPatchingOptOut("Performance critical to inline across NGen image boundaries")]
    public static bool IsNullOrEmpty(string value)
    {
      if (value != null)
        return value.Length == 0;
      else
        return true;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Indicates whether a specified string is null, empty, or consists only of white-space characters.
    /// </summary>
    /// 
    /// <returns>
    /// true if the <paramref name="value"/> parameter is null or <see cref="F:System.String.Empty"/>, or if <paramref name="value"/> consists exclusively of white-space characters.
    /// </returns>
    /// <param name="value">The string to test.</param>
    public static bool IsNullOrWhiteSpace(string value)
    {
      if (value == null)
        return true;
      for (int index = 0; index < value.Length; ++index)
      {
        if (!char.IsWhiteSpace(value[index]))
          return false;
      }
      return true;
    }

What about this for a catch all...

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(x.Trim())
{
}

This will trim all the spaces if they are there avoiding the performance penalty of IsWhiteSpace, which will enable the string to meet the "empty" condition if its not null.

I also think this is clearer and its generally good practise to trim strings anyway especially if you are putting them into a database or something.

The differences in practice :

string testString = "";
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("IsNullOrEmpty : {0}", string.IsNullOrEmpty(testString)));
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("IsNullOrWhiteSpace : {0}", string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(testString)));
Console.ReadKey();

Result :
IsNullOrEmpty : True
IsNullOrWhiteSpace : True

**************************************************************
string testString = " MDS   ";

IsNullOrEmpty : False
IsNullOrWhiteSpace : False

**************************************************************
string testString = "   ";

IsNullOrEmpty : False
IsNullOrWhiteSpace : True

**************************************************************
string testString = string.Empty;

IsNullOrEmpty : True
IsNullOrWhiteSpace : True

**************************************************************
string testString = null;

IsNullOrEmpty : True
IsNullOrWhiteSpace : True

string.IsNullOrEmpty(str) - if you'd like to check string value has been provided

string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(str) - basically this is already a sort of business logic implementation (i.e. why " " is bad, but something like "~~" is good).

My advice - do not mix business logic with technical checks. So, for example, string.IsNullOrEmpty is the best to use at the beginning of methods to check their input parameters.

Check this out with IsNullOrEmpty and IsNullOrwhiteSpace

string sTestes = "I like sweat peaches";
    Stopwatch stopWatch = new Stopwatch();
    stopWatch.Start();
    for (int i = 0; i < 5000000; i++)
    {
        for (int z = 0; z < 500; z++)
        {
            var x = string.IsNullOrEmpty(sTestes);// OR string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace
        }
    }

    stopWatch.Stop();
    // Get the elapsed time as a TimeSpan value.
    TimeSpan ts = stopWatch.Elapsed;
    // Format and display the TimeSpan value. 
    string elapsedTime = String.Format("{0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}.{3:00}",
        ts.Hours, ts.Minutes, ts.Seconds,
        ts.Milliseconds / 10);
    Console.WriteLine("RunTime " + elapsedTime);
    Console.ReadLine();

You'll see that IsNullOrWhiteSpace is much slower :/