Check if String Is Empty in PowerShell

PowerShell is a cross-platform automation tool used as a command-line console, a scripting language, and a configuration management system for CI/CD pipeline systems. More details about PowerShell is in this link.

IsNullOrEmpty is a common scripting/programming language, a string method for checking whether a given string is empty or null. A null is a string value that has not been assigned, and an empty string is a string with " " or given String.Empty.

Read more about IsNullOrEmpty method at this site.

In PowerShell, there is a way to do this. We will discuss it through this article.

IsNullOrEmpty Alternatives to Check if a String Is Null or Empty in PowerShell

There is an easy way to do PowerShell’s IsNullOrEmpty equivalent function.

The following code segments can be used.

PS C:\Users\Test> $str1 = $null
PS C:\Users\Test> if ($str1) { 'not empty' } else { 'empty' }

The string given in the command is null. Therefore, the output of the above code is as below.

PS C:\Users\Test> $str1 = $null
PS C:\Users\Test> if ($str1) { 'not empty' } else { 'empty' }
empty

If the string is empty, then the output given is still empty.

PS C:\Users\Test> $str2 = ''
PS C:\Users\Test> if ($str2) { 'not empty' } else { 'empty' }
empty

If the string is not empty and not null, the output given is not empty.

PS C:\Users\Test> $str3 = ' '
PS C:\Users\Test> if ($str3) { 'not empty' } else { 'empty' }
not empty

There are commands to compare two strings and check whether two or more are empty.

PS C:\Users\Agni>  if ($str1 -and $str2) { 'neither empty' } else { 'one or both empty'}
one or both empty

The output of the above code is one or both empty.

Further, neither empty is also one possible comparative used above to compare two declared strings.

This can be identified as the clearest and the most concise method of using the IsNullOrEmpty

Other than the above method, IsNullOrEmpty static method can also be used in the PowerShell.