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Checking if a string is empty in Go

Checking if a string is empty in Go

Clive B.

—

The Problem

You want to check whether a string variable is blank (or empty) in Go.

The Solution

You can determine whether a string is empty by checking the string length or comparing it to the empty string literal.

Use len() to check the length of a string as follows:

Click to Copy
package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    example := ""

    if len(example) == 0 {
        fmt.Println("example is an empty string")
    }
}

If the length is equal to zero, you know that the string is empty.

Alternatively, compare the string to the empty string literal:

Click to Copy
package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    example := ""

    if example == "" {
        fmt.Println("example is an empty string")
    }
}

If the string is equal to the empty literal, you know that the string is empty.

You can use either approach, as they are similarly efficient and require only the Go standard library. Choose the option that makes your code clearest to read.

If your string is not empty but you suspect it may be blank, you can use the TrimSpace function from the strings package to check whether it contains only whitespace.

First, use strings.TrimSpace to remove blank spaces from the string, then compare it to the empty string literal:

Click to Copy
package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "strings"
)

func main() {
    example := "    "

    if strings.TrimSpace(example) == "" {
        fmt.Println("example is empty")
    }
}

If your string is now equal to the empty literal, you know that it contained only whitespace.

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