What is the PHP syntax to check “is not null” or an empty string? [duplicate]

Answer 1

Null OR an empty string?

if (!empty($user)) {}

Use empty().

---

After realizing that $user ~= $_POST['user'] (thanks matt):

var uservariable='<?php 
    echo ((array_key_exists('user',$_POST)) || (!empty($_POST['user']))) ? $_POST['user'] : 'Empty Username Input';
?>';

Answer 2

Use empty(). It checks for both empty strings and null.

if (!empty($_POST['user'])) {
  // do stuff
}

From the manual:

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)