python check string for emptieness - is this the elegant way [duplicate]

Question

if var is not None and var !="" and var !=" ":
   # todo

can I write it like this?:

if var: 
   # todo

var is only String type.

@aug Not since OP wants whitespace to count as empty strings as well. — kqr
– kqr, Commented Sep 7, 2013 at 8:26

falsetru · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-07 08:06:45Z

13

If you want to filter out space-only string (" "):

if var and var.strip():
    # ...

Becasue string that contain spaces is evaludated as True if used as predicate:

>>> bool("")
False

>>> bool("  ")
True

answered Sep 7, 2013 at 8:06

falsetru

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3 Comments

Shashank Over a year ago

I think if var.strip(): is equivalent to that.

Martijn Pieters Over a year ago

@ShashankGupta: Not if var could be None.

Steve Jessop Over a year ago

Although obviously if ' ' is the only whitespace string that should be considered false, whereas ' ' * 2 or '\t' should be considered true as in the code in the question, then the answer is different :-)

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