Python – Check If String Is Empty – With Examples

In this tutorial, we will look at how to check if a string is empty or not in Python with the help of some examples.

How to check if a string is an empty string?

A string is empty if it does not contain any characters. You can use the following methods to check if a string is empty or not in Python.

• Comparing the string with an empty string.
• Using the len() function.
• Using the string in a boolean context.

Let’s now take a look at each of the above methods with the help of some examples.

Comparing the string with an empty string

You can also check if a string is empty or not by comparing it with an empty string, "" using the == operator. Let’s look at an example.

# create two strings - s1 empty and s2 non-empty
s1 = ""
s2 = "cat"
# check if string is empty
print(s1 == "")
print(s2 == "")

Output:

True
False

We get True as the output for the string s1 as it is empty and False for the string s2 because it’s not empty (it contains some characters).

Using the len() function

The length of an empty string is zero.

You can use the Python len() function to calculate the length of the string and then compare it with zero to check if it is empty or not. Here’s an example –

# create two strings - s1 empty and s2 non-empty
s1 = ""
s2 = "cat"
# check if string is empty
print(len(s1) == 0)
print(len(s2) == 0)

Output:

True
False

We get the same results as above.

String in a boolean context

If you use a string in a boolean context, it will evaluate to True if it has any characters and it will evaluate to False if it is empty. Thus, you can use the expression not s to check if the string s is empty or not.

Here’s an example.

# create two strings - s1 empty and s2 non-empty
s1 = ""
s2 = "cat"
# check if string is empty
print(not s1)
print(not s2)

Output:

True
False

We get the same result as above. True for the string s1 as it’s empty and False for the string s2 as it’s not empty (s2 has three characters).

In this tutorial, we looked at three methods to check if a string is empty or not. Use the method that you are the most comfortable with.

You might also be interested in –

• Python – Check If a List is Empty – With Examples
• Python – Check If Set Is Empty – With Examples
• Check If a Tuple Is Empty in Python
• Check If a Dictionary Is Empty In Python