How can I check whether an array is null / empty?
There's a key difference between a null
array and an empty array. This is a test for null
.
int arr[] = null;
if (arr == null) {
System.out.println("array is null");
}
"Empty" here has no official meaning. I'm choosing to define empty as having 0 elements:
arr = new int[0];
if (arr.length == 0) {
System.out.println("array is empty");
}
An alternative definition of "empty" is if all the elements are null
:
Object arr[] = new Object[10];
boolean empty = true;
for (int i=0; i<arr.length; i++) {
if (arr[i] != null) {
empty = false;
break;
}
}
or
Object arr[] = new Object[10];
boolean empty = true;
for (Object ob : arr) {
if (ob != null) {
empty = false;
break;
}
}
ArrayUtils.isNotEmpty(testArrayName)
from the package org.apache.commons.lang3
ensures Array is not null or empty