Check empty or null in sql

Using char is almost always the wrong choice due to padding and the resulting space waste. But apart from that: I don't think there is a better solution. Why ugly? Logical and legible. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Its use is discouraged in Postgres : In most situations text or character varying should be used instead.

Improve this answer. Erwin Brandstetter Erwin Brandstetter k gold badges silver badges bronze badges. The trim call is comparatively expensive - and just not necessary. I added more about char n and "empty string". You wrote that any string expression containing only spaces is equal to ''. This looks more readable to me compared to your answer.

Andrus: Yes, you can. I added that and some more to the answer. I would use one of the top two expressions in any case, which work for any character type and are fastest and cleanest. Show 7 more comments. Amgad Fahmi 4, 3 3 gold badges 18 18 silver badges 18 18 bronze badges. Did you check this for the NULL case? Yes, I did. Therefore, all string values that consist entirely of spaces including zero spaces will be deemed to be equal e.

Finally, from the above different code you understand regarding how do you check if a column is blank or Null in SQL. Hey there! Some links on this page are affiliate links which means that, if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Martin Ba Martin Ba I couldn't decide if I should upvote your answer or unclefofa's, since he seems to have answered first, but his answer has been edited after you answered. I ended upvoting both.

I am sadfused. As long as company. Shouldn't we use trim to make sure everything goes as planned — irfandar. Otherwise a string with all spaces is not empty. Show 1 more comment.

OfferText,'' , Company. OfferText, '' This is similar to the accepted answer, but it also has a fallback in case Company. Joel Coehoorn Joel Coehoorn k gold badges silver badges bronze badges. This got upvoted today, so it's indexed somewhere. I now know a better way to do this than the original answer. OfferText is null or listing. Patrick Harrington Patrick Harrington Anax 8, 5 5 gold badges 30 30 silver badges 66 66 bronze badges.

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