PHP user-defined function issue with if clause - php

Question

I have created this emptyFields function in my functions.php file and I am using require_once to require functions.php in my validation.php file.
function emptyFields($n, $e, $p, $cp) {
$r;
if ( empty($n) || empty($e) || empty($p) || empty($cp) ) {
$r = true;
} else {
$r = false;
}
return $r;
}
Now, I am using this if clause in the validation.php file to check for any empty fields.
if (emptyFields($name, $email, $pwd, $cpwd) !== false) {
header("location: signup.php?errorid=emptyfields");
exit();
}
Note: Before forwarding input to the emptyFields function, I also use the inputSanitize function which is as follows.
function inputSanitize($n) {
$n = addslashes($n);
$n = htmlspecialchars($n);
$n = trim($n);
}
Apart from the above if clause, I also have other if clauses for email validation, password match etc.
THE PROBLEM: No matter what, It always executes this emptyFields function even when the input is properly provided. The next if clause in line, checks email format using another function, but it never gets executed. From my signup.php file, I input data and I get this query-string so I am assuming that only the emptyFields function gets executed.
location: signup.php?errorid=emptyfields
I have tried using multiple elseif but nothing changes. I have checked the form inputs' names to see whether there is any error in taking input from form but everything seems fine there too. I am using XAMPP.
Any help on this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

try below instead of you own, remove the "else" condition which create the conditional tree and slow down when you execute alot of code.
function emptyFields($n, $e, $p, $cp) {
$r = false;
if ( empty($n) || empty($e) || empty($p) || empty($cp) ){
$r = true;
}
return $r;
}