if not a:
    print("List is empty")

Using the implicit booleanness of the empty list is quite Pythonic.

Answer from Patrick on Stack Overflow
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Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 53513 › how-do-i-check-if-a-list-is-empty
python - How do I check if a list is empty? - Stack Overflow
Top answer
1 of 16
7316
if not a:
    print("List is empty")

Using the implicit booleanness of the empty list is quite Pythonic.

2 of 16
1557

The Pythonic way to do it is from the PEP 8 style guide.

For sequences, (strings, lists, tuples), use the fact that empty sequences are false:

# Correct:
if not seq:
if seq:

# Wrong:
if len(seq):
if not len(seq):
Python empty list Exception
python - Check if list is empty without using the `not` command
How to check if a list is empty in Python?
Empty values in a Python list
python - How to check if a list is empty
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › python-check-if-list-empty-not
Check if a list is empty or not in Python - GeeksforGeeks
October 24, 2024 - We can also use len() function to see if a list is empty by checking if its length is zero. ... Explanation: len(a) returns 0 for an empty list. Lists can be directly evaluated in conditions. Python considers an empty list as False.
Discussions
How do I check if this list is "empty"?
Well there are a few ways you could deal with this. First would be to check if userInput is an empty string before converting it to a list. Another possibility would be to filter the list to remove all empty strings, eg via a list comprehension. Or you could do the filtering inside the loop you already have that converts to integers. Or, again inside that loop, you could use a counter variable to keep track of how many integers you've converted, and print an error afterwards if it's 0. And so on. The main thing here is that you should get away from thinking about how to code something, but first work out what the steps should be, and only then code it. More on reddit.com
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1
December 8, 2022
python - How to check if array is not empty? - Stack Overflow
Using numpy just to check if a list is empty seems heavy handed. 2017-05-16T15:10:33.697Z+00:00 ... @Pengo: I did not suggest to convert a list to a numpy array. This answer assumes that 'a' already is a numpy array. Talking about 'arrays' in Python quickly refers to numpy arrays, because natively ... More on stackoverflow.com
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python - Check if list or array element is empty - Stack Overflow
I know how to check if a list is empty (Best way to check if a list is empty) and how to check if a numpy array is empty (How can I check whether the numpy array is empty or not?) I have an elemen... More on stackoverflow.com
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[C] Does an empty array have a '/0' as its first element?

You can't make any assumptions about "empty" data. If you just declared a char array or malloc some memory, always initialize it. Manually set the first char to 0 if that is what you want.

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Python Tip: Check If a List Is Empty the Pythonic Way! 🐍✨ ...
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check if numpy array is empty
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TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com › How-to-check-if-a-list-is-empty-in-Python
How to check if a list is empty in Python?
April 23, 2025 - When working with NumPy arrays, ... array.size == 0: print('Empty list') else: print('List is not empty') Empty list · The not operator is the most Pythonic and efficient way to check for empty lists....
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnpython › how do i check if this list is "empty"?
r/learnpython on Reddit: How do I check if this list is "empty"?
December 8, 2022 -

I'm completely stumped on a computer science assignment because our lecturer has given us zero information. We're supposed to have the user input a list and check if the list is in decreasing order and print a suitable message if it is. That part works fine. However, if the list is "empty" (I'll explain the quotations in a second) then it should print the list is empty.

The problem is that, according to our brief we're supposed to use .split(",") in order to allow the user to separate their numbers with commas. The problem lies in the fact that even if a user hits enter without inputting anything, the list is still '1' long with just an empty string. I've been scouring the web to find out how to check if a list is empty. But all the tutorials have so far just been in relation to actually empty lists (as in, list = []). One did use the all() function to check that all items in the list were strings, which did work and let me print that the list is empty, but broke the original function. Could someone please help me I'm tearing my hair out with this.

--

def checkOrder():

# checks, etc.

integer_list = []

listLength = len(integer_list)

increasing = 0

decreasing = 0

singleValue = 0

# Converting inputted numbers into a split list

userInput = input("Please enter your numbers seperated by a comma (,):")

inputtedStrings = userInput.split(",")

for number in inputtedStrings:

inputtedIntegers = int(number)

integer_list.append(inputtedIntegers)

# Enumerating list

for i, val in enumerate(integer_list[:-1]):

if val <= integer_list[i+1]:

increasing = 1

elif val >= integer_list[i+1]:

decreasing = 1

# Check for a single value

if len(integer_list) == 1:

singleValue = 1

if len(integer_list) == 1 and

print("The list is empty.")

if increasing == 1:

print("The numbers are in increasing order.")

elif decreasing == 1 or singleValue == 1:

print("The numbers are in decreasing order.")

checkOrder()

--

Top answer
1 of 5
8
Well there are a few ways you could deal with this. First would be to check if userInput is an empty string before converting it to a list. Another possibility would be to filter the list to remove all empty strings, eg via a list comprehension. Or you could do the filtering inside the loop you already have that converts to integers. Or, again inside that loop, you could use a counter variable to keep track of how many integers you've converted, and print an error afterwards if it's 0. And so on. The main thing here is that you should get away from thinking about how to code something, but first work out what the steps should be, and only then code it.
2 of 5
3
arr = [''] print(any(arr)) # False any and all are pretty useful built-in functions for iterative boolean checks.
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Curict
en.curict.com › item › 9a › 9a5983d.html
Checking if a Python list is empty - curict.com
There are several ways to check if a list contains any elements, such as using “if not”, the built-in len function, or comparing it to an empty array. In Python, an empty sequence (an empty list) is considered False, so you can use the if not operator to check if a list is empty.
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Built In
builtin.com › articles › python-check-if-list-is-empty
Python Check if a List Is Empty: A Guide | Built In
There are a variety of methods that can be used to check if a list is empty in Python, including the Truth Value Testing method, the len() function and the == operator. Learn more.
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freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org › news › how-to-check-if-a-list-is-empty-in-python
Python isEmpty() equivalent – How to Check if a List is Empty in Python
April 19, 2023 - In the code above, we used an if statement and the not operator to check if the people_list was empty. You can use the len() function in Python to return the number of elements in a data structure.
Find elsewhere
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Quora
quora.com › How-do-I-check-if-an-array-is-empty-in-Python
How to check if an array is empty in Python - Quora
Answer (1 of 12): I am going to assume you are talking about lists (Python does have arrays, but they are very different to lists). Three ways : 1 Test the truthiness If you know the item is a list you do : [code]if not my_list: print(‘List is empty’) [/code]Empty containers (lists,sets,t...
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Python Morsels
pythonmorsels.com › checking-for-an-empty-list-in-python
Checking for an empty list in Python - Python Morsels
July 18, 2026 - This way, our code would work with an empty list, an empty tuple, or any empty collection. When I write Python code that checks for an empty list, I usually rely on truthiness and falsiness using Python's if statements and the not operator.
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Flexiple
flexiple.com › python › check-if-list-is-empty-python
How to check if a list is empty in Python? - Flexiple Tutorials
Empty lists are considered False ... you can use to check if a list is empty are placing it inside an if statement, using the len() methods, or comparing it with an empty list....
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Better Stack
betterstack.com › community › questions › how-to-check-if-list-is-empty-in-python
How do I check if a list is empty in Python? | Better Stack Community
January 26, 2023 - You can check if a list is empty by using the len() function to check the length of the list.
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Vultr
docs.vultr.com › python › examples › check if a list is empty
Python Program to Check If a List is Empty
December 6, 2024 - Here, if not my_list effectively checks if my_list is empty and prints "List is empty." Otherwise, it prints "List is not empty." Compare the list directly to an empty list [] using the == operator.
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Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 5086178 › how-to-check-if-array-is-not-empty
python - How to check if array is not empty? - Stack Overflow
Top answer
1 of 8
111

There's no mention of numpy in the question. If by array you mean list, then if you treat a list as a boolean it will yield True if it has items and False if it's empty.

l = []

if l:
    print "list has items"

if not l:
    print "list is empty"
2 of 8
65

with a as a numpy array, use:

if a.size:
   print('array is not empty')

(in Python, objects like [1,2,3] are called lists, not arrays.)

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Medium
pavolkutaj.medium.com › how-to-check-if-a-list-dict-or-set-is-empty-in-python-as-per-pep8-35d8c64d07d0
How to Check if a List, Dict or Set is Empty in Python as per PEP8 | by Pavol Z. Kutaj | Medium
September 7, 2023 - in effect, it is saying that ... · The canonical way of knowing if an array in C is empty is by dereferencing the first element and seeing if it is null, assuming an array that is nul-terminated....
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Python Guides
pythonguides.com › check-if-an-array-is-empty-in-python
How to Check if a NumPy Array Is Empty (arr.size)
May 6, 2025 - To check if a NumPy array is empty, test arr.size == 0. size is the total number of elements, so it is 0 only when the array holds nothing, whatever its shape. Don’t use if not arr: (it raises an error for arrays with more than one element), and be careful with len(arr), which only counts the first dimension. For a plain Python list, if not my_list: is the usual check.
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Finxter
blog.finxter.com › home › learn python blog › how to check if a list is empty in python?
How To Check If a List Is Empty In Python? - Be on the Right Side of Change
October 3, 2020 - We can check if a given list is empty or not using the comparison operator == that compares two objects in Python. Let us have a look at the code to find out if this works in our case – · li = [] if li == [] : print ("List 'li' is Empty!") ...
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Enterprise DNA
blog.enterprisedna.co › python-check-if-list-is-empty-7-methods-explained
Enterprise DNA: We Help Businesses Put Data and AI to Work
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Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 43329500 › check-if-list-or-array-element-is-empty › 43329552
python - Check if list or array element is empty - Stack Overflow
Top answer
1 of 1
5

You could use the size attribute.

a = np.asarray(a)  # converts it to an array if it's not an array.
if a.size == 0:
    # it's empty!

This works also for lists because of the np.asarray. You haven't specified what you want to do if it's not empty but given that you allow numpy.ndarrays it's likely the operations will convert it to an array anyway so you won't have much overhead with the np.asarray-call

If you really don't want the overhead of np.asarray:

if not getattr(a, 'size', len(a)):  # However this does not work on numpy scalars
    # it's empty
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datagy
datagy.io › home › python posts › how to check if a python list is empty
How to Check if a Python List is Empty • datagy
August 26, 2022 - One of the ways you’ll often encounter whether checking if a Python list is empty is using the bool() function. The Python bool() function checks the truthy-ness of an item and returns either True or False.