Default string initialization: NULL or Empty? [closed]

Answer 1

I always declare string with string.empty;

Answer 2

An empty string is a value (a piece of text which, incidentally, happens not to contain any letters). Null signifies no-value.

I initialize variables to null when I wish to indicate that they do not point to or contain actual values - when the intent is for no-value.

Answer 3

I either set it to "" or null - I always check by using String.IsNullOrEmpty, so either is fine.

But the inner geek in me says I should set it to null before I have a proper value for it...

Answer 4

According to MSDN:

By initializing strings with the Empty value instead of null, you can reduce the chances of a NullReferenceException occurring.

Always using IsNullOrEmpty() is good practice nevertheless.

Answer 5

Null should only be used in cases where a value is optional. If the value is not optional (like 'Name' or 'Address'), then the value should never be null. This applies to databases as well as POCOs and the user interface. Null means "this value is optional, and is currently absent."

If your field is not optional, then you should initialize it as the empty string. To initialize it as null would place your object into an invalid state (invalid by your own data model).

Personally I would rather strings to not be nullable by default, but instead only nullable if we declare a "string?". Although perhaps this not feasible or logical at a deeper level; not sure.

Answer 6

It depends on the situation. In most cases I use String.Empty because I don't want to be doing null checks every time I attempt to use a string. It makes the code a lot simpler and you are less likely to introduce unwanted NullReferenceException crashes.

I only set the string to null when I need to know if it has been set or not and where an empty string is something valid to set it to. In practice, I find these situations rare.