Is a String Empty?

Prior to JDK 6, we can check if a string is empty in 2 ways:

if(s != null && s.length() == 0)
if(("").equals(s))

Checking its length is more readable and may be a little faster. Starting from JDK 6, String class has a new convenience method isEmpty():

boolean isEmpty()
Returns true if, and only if, length() is 0.

It is just a shorthand for checking length. Of course, if the String is null, you will still get NullPointerException. I don't see much value in adding this convenience method. Instead, I'd like to see a static utility method that also handle null value:

public static boolean notEmpty(String s) {
 return (s != null && s.length() > 0);
}

Tags: JDK, java, String, isEmpty