Empty Checking #

Sugar uses EmptyHelper::isEmpty() for s:empty, s:notempty, and s:forelse instead of PHP’s empty(). This provides consistent behavior across arrays, countable objects, and iterators while avoiding false positives.

empty() treats some values (like 0 and "0") as empty. EmptyHelper follows those rules for scalars, but adds smarter handling for objects and iterables.

What Counts As Empty #

null, false, '', '0', 0, 0.0
Arrays with zero items
Countable objects with a count of zero
Traversable iterators with no items

Everything else is considered non-empty.

Examples #

EmptyHelper::isEmpty(null);   // true
EmptyHelper::isEmpty('0');    // true
EmptyHelper::isEmpty(0);      // true
EmptyHelper::isEmpty('ok');   // false

EmptyHelper::isEmpty([]);          // true
EmptyHelper::isEmpty(['x']);       // false

EmptyHelper::isEmpty(new ArrayObject([])); // true

$iter = new ArrayIterator([]);
EmptyHelper::isEmpty($iter); // true

Generators #

Generators cannot be checked without consuming them. EmptyHelper throws a GeneratorNotSupportedException if you pass a generator.

$generator = (function () {
    yield 1;
})();

EmptyHelper::isEmpty($generator); // throws GeneratorNotSupportedException

Convert generators to arrays before using them with s:empty, s:notempty, or s:forelse.

In Templates #

<ul s:forelse="$items as $item">
    <li><?= $item ?></li>
</ul>
<div s:empty>No items found</div>
<div s:notempty>Items found</div>