Condition failing even if the array values are empty - php

Question

I have a piece of code where the condition fails even when the array is empty.
This is the code:
echo "<pre>";
print_r($_FILES['jform']['name']['gallery']);
which outputs
Array
(
[0] =>
)
This is the condition:
$galfile = $_FILES['jform']['name']['gallery'];
if(!empty($galfile))
{
//do something
}
It should fail, but the program enters the if block. Why?

Answer 1

As you can see from the print_r() the array is NOT empty - it has one element, which on the other side looks like white space or empty.
Update
I would recommend reading POST method uploads, where you'll learn that name is the original name of the file and tmp_name is a random name of the temporary file, that has been just uploaded.
According to my experience you should check the Error Messages.
The check you're interested is:
foreach ( array_keys( $_FILES['jform']['gallery'] ) AS $key ) {
if ( UPLOAD_ERR_OK == $_FILES['jform']['gallery']['error'][$key] ) {
// do the stuff with the uploaded file in $_FILES['jform']['gallery']['tmp_name'][$key]
}
}
Keep an eye on the names of the arrays where gallery is before name.

Answer 2

As you can see your array is not empty it has a blank element.
The work around is array_filter which will eliminate blank data
$array = array(0=>'');
$array1 = array_filter($array);
print_r($array1);
if(!empty($array1)){
echo "has elememt";
}else{
echo "empty";
}
This is what u need
UPDATE
What if the value contains multiple spaces, yes this could be handled using a call back function
$array1 = array_filter($array,"call_back_function");
function call_back_function($val){
return trim($val);
}

Answer 3

In your case print_r() told you that galfile == array('') // 1 element is in the array
According to the documentaion only array() // 0 elements is considered empty. So the if statement is executed correctly.
In your case you should write:
$galfile = $_FILES['jform']['name']['gallery'];
if(!empty($galfile) && !empty($galfile[0]) )
{
//do something
}

Answer 4

When you working with arrays, before checking for empty you can sanitize your array using array_filter or the similar functions:
$galfile = array_filter($_FILES['jform']['name']['gallery']);
if(!empty($galfile))
{
//do something
}
But when you use global array _FILES, more correctly is checks for error:
if($_FILES['jform']['error']['gallery'] == 0)
{
//do something
}
P.S. If you want to filtering all array elements, you can use filter_var_array