if else error message always shows else statement message - php

Question

I think this is a simple problem. But, I don't know how to solve this problem. I have posted my codes below. Here, In this below code if else statement always shows No Sarees. I got the result from mysql table but it always shows with No Sarees text. I have checked this using var_dump($categories) it returns array(0){} . How can I solve this problem?
<?php if ($categories) { ?>
<!--BOF Refine Search Result-->
<div class="refine-search-result">
<?php if (count($categories) <= 5) { ?>
<?php foreach ($categories as $category) { ?>
<div class="refine-block">
<p><?php echo $category['name']; ?></p>
</div>
<?php } ?>
<?php } else { ?>
<?php for ($i = 0; $i < count($categories);) { ?>
<?php $j = $i + ceil(count($categories) / 4); ?>
<?php for (; $i < $j; $i++) { ?>
<?php if (isset($categories[$i])) { ?>
<div class="refine-block">
<p><?php echo $categories[$i]['name']; ?></p>
</div>
<?php } ?>
<?php } ?>
<?php } ?>
<?php } ?>
<div class="clear"></div>
</div><!--EOF Refine Search Result-->
<?php } else {
?>
<div class="refine-search-result">
<div class="refine-block">
<p>No Sarees</p>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
</div>
<?php } ?>

Answer 1

If your $categories is empty array then in if($categories) your array is converted to boolean value. If it's empty array (and you say it is) then it's get converted to false.
Check this:
$categories = array(); //empty array
var_dump((boolean)$categories); //this will show what variable will look like after converting to boolean value
if ($categories){
echo '$categories IS NOT empty';
}else{
echo '$categories IS empty';
}