php: '0' as a string with empty()

Question

I want a 0 to be considered as an integer and a \'0\' to be considered as a string but empty() considers the \'0\' as a string in the example below,

$var = \         


        

Answer 1

You can't with only empty(). See the manual. You can do this though:

if ($var !== '0' && empty($var)) {
   echo "$var is empty and is not string '0'";
}

Basically, empty() does the same as:

if (!$var) ...

But doesn't trigger a PHP Notice when the variable is not set.