In php, is 0 treated as empty?

In case of numeric values you should use is_numeric function:

$var = 0;

if (is_numeric($var))
{
  echo "Its not empty";
} 
else 
{
    echo "Its empty";
}

Use strlen() instead. I ran onto the same issue using 1/0 as possible values for some variables. I am using if (strlen($_POST['myValue']) == 0) to test if there is a character or not in my variable.

http://php.net/empty

The following things are considered to be empty:

• "" (an empty string)
• 0 (0 as an integer)
• 0.0 (0 as a float)
• "0" (0 as a string)
• NULL
• FALSE
• array() (an empty array)
• var $var; (a variable declared, but without a value in a class)

Note that this is exactly the same list as for a coercion to Boolean false. empty is simply !isset($var) || !$var. Try isset instead.

I was wondering why nobody suggested the extremely handy Type comparison table. It answers every question about the common functions and compare operators.

A snippet:

Expression      | empty($x)
----------------+--------
$x = "";        | true    
$x = null       | true    
var $x;         | true    
$x is undefined | true    
$x = array();   | true    
$x = false;     | true    
$x = true;      | false   
$x = 1;         | false   
$x = 42;        | false   
$x = 0;         | true    
$x = -1;        | false   
$x = "1";       | false   
$x = "0";       | true    
$x = "-1";      | false   
$x = "php";     | false   
$x = "true";    | false   
$x = "false";   | false   

Along other cheatsheets, I always keep a hardcopy of this table on my desk in case I'm not sure