"blank" and "empty" are not the same thing in PHP. If you expect them to be, then you read the manual wrong. I generally include a set of common utilities where

"blank" and "empty" are not the same thing in PHP. If you expect them to be, then you read the manual wrong. I generally include a set of common utilities where I define my own "isBlank()" function, which trims before comparing. There are different definitions of "blank" such that one size may not fit all. (Consider tabs and line-feed characters, for example.)