Determines whether an expression evaluates to empty.
EMPTY(eExpression) |
Parameters
- eExpression
- Specifies the expression that EMPTY(В ) evaluates. You can specify an expression with Character, Numeric, Date, Varbinary, Blob, or Logical type, or the name of a Memo or General field in an open table.
Return Value
Logical. EMPTY(В ) returns True (.T.) if the expression eExpression evaluates to empty; otherwise, EMPTY(В ) returns False (.F.).
When expression types evaluate to the values in the following table, EMPTY(В ) returns True (.T.).
Expression type | Evaluates to |
---|---|
Blob |
Empty (0h) or contains only zero bytes, for example, 0h00, 0h000000, and so on |
Character |
Empty string, spaces, tabs, carriage returns, linefeeds, or any combination of these |
Currency |
0 |
Date |
Empty, for example, CTOD('') |
DateTime |
Empty, for example, CTOT('') |
Double |
0 |
Float |
0 |
General |
Empty (no OLE object) |
Integer |
0 |
Logical |
False (.F.) |
Memo |
Empty (no contents) |
Numeric |
0 |
Varbinary |
Empty (0h) or contains only zero bytes, for example, 0h00, 0h000000, and so on |
Remarks
You cannot use EMPTY(В ) to determine whether a variable object reference is empty. For example, a variable can contain an object reference for a form. If the form is closed by clicking Close from the form's pop-up menu or by issuing CLEAR WINDOWS, the variable contains the null value.
The following program example demonstrates how to use TYPE(В ) and ISNULL(В ) to determine if a variable object reference is valid.
В | Copy Code |
---|---|
goMyForm = CREATEOBJECT('Form') WAIT WINDOW IIF(TYPE('goMyForm') = 'O' AND !ISNULL(goMyForm), ; 'goMyForm has valid object reference',; 'goMyForm does not have valid object reference') |
Example
The following example opens the customer
table in the testdata
database. FOR ... ENDFOR is used to create a loop in which EMPTY(В ) s used to determine if TAG(В ) returns the empty string. The name of each structural index tag is displayed with its candidate status.
В | Copy Code |
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CLOSE DATABASES OPEN DATABASE (HOME(2) + 'data\testdata') USE customer && Open customer table FOR nCount = 1 TO TAGCOUNT( ) IF !EMPTY(TAG(nCount)) && Checks for empty string ? TAG(nCount) && Display tag name ? CANDIDATE(nCount) && Display candidate status ELSE EXIT && Exit the loop when no more tags are found ENDIF ENDFOR |