[php] How to check whether an array is empty using PHP?

Some decent answers, but just thought I'd expand a bit to explain more clearly when PHP determines if an array is empty.

Main Notes:

An array with a key (or keys) will be determined as NOT empty by PHP.

As array values need keys to exist, having values or not in an array doesn't determine if it's empty, only if there are no keys (AND therefore no values).

So checking an array with empty() doesn't simply tell you if you have values or not, it tells you if the array is empty, and keys are part of an array.

So consider how you are producing your array before deciding which checking method to use.
EG An array will have keys when a user submits your HTML form when each form field has an array name (ie name="array[]").
A non empty array will be produced for each field as there will be auto incremented key values for each form field's array.

Take these arrays for example:

/* Assigning some arrays */

// Array with user defined key and value
$ArrayOne = array("UserKeyA" => "UserValueA", "UserKeyB" => "UserValueB");

// Array with auto increment key and user defined value
// as a form field would return with user input
$ArrayTwo[] = "UserValue01";
$ArrayTwo[] = "UserValue02";

// Array with auto incremented key and no value
// as a form field would return without user input
$ArrayThree[] = '';
$ArrayThree[] = '';

If you echo out the array keys and values for the above arrays, you get the following:

ARRAY ONE:
[UserKeyA] => [UserValueA]
[UserKeyB] => [UserValueB]

ARRAY TWO:
[0] => [UserValue01]
[1] => [UserValue02]

ARRAY THREE:
[0] => []
[1] => []

And testing the above arrays with empty() returns the following results:

ARRAY ONE:
$ArrayOne is not empty

ARRAY TWO:
$ArrayTwo is not empty

ARRAY THREE:
$ArrayThree is not empty

An array will always be empty when you assign an array but don't use it thereafter, such as:

$ArrayFour = array();

This will be empty, ie PHP will return TRUE when using if empty() on the above.

So if your array has keys - either by eg a form's input names or if you assign them manually (ie create an array with database column names as the keys but no values/data from the database), then the array will NOT be empty().

In this case, you can loop the array in a foreach, testing if each key has a value. This is a good method if you need to run through the array anyway, perhaps checking the keys or sanitising data.

However it is not the best method if you simply need to know "if values exist" returns TRUE or FALSE. There are various methods to determine if an array has any values when it's know it will have keys. A function or class might be the best approach, but as always it depends on your environment and exact requirements, as well as other things such as what you currently do with the array (if anything).

Here's an approach which uses very little code to check if an array has values:

Using array_filter():
Iterates over each value in the array passing them to the callback function. If the callback function returns true, the current value from array is returned into the result array. Array keys are preserved.

$EmptyTestArray = array_filter($ArrayOne);

if (!empty($EmptyTestArray))
  {
    // do some tests on the values in $ArrayOne
  }
else
  {
    // Likely not to need an else, 
    // but could return message to user "you entered nothing" etc etc
  }

Running array_filter() on all three example arrays (created in the first code block in this answer) results in the following:

ARRAY ONE:
$arrayone is not empty

ARRAY TWO:
$arraytwo is not empty

ARRAY THREE:
$arraythree is empty

So when there are no values, whether there are keys or not, using array_filter() to create a new array and then check if the new array is empty shows if there were any values in the original array.
It is not ideal and a bit messy, but if you have a huge array and don't need to loop through it for any other reason, then this is the simplest in terms of code needed.

I'm not experienced in checking overheads, but it would be good to know the differences between using array_filter() and foreach checking if a value is found.

Obviously benchmark would need to be on various parameters, on small and large arrays and when there are values and not etc.