Ruby:nil, empty? and blank? choice

article = nilarticle.nil?  # => true

empty?Checks if an element-like a string or an array f.e.-Is empty:

# Array[].empty?   #=> true# String"".empty?   #=> true

Rails adds the method to theblank?Objectclass:

An object is blank if it ' s false, empty, or a whitespace string. For example, "", "", Nil, [], and {} is blank.

This simplifies

if !address.nil? && !address.empty?

To

if !address.blank? .nil? - It is Ruby method
- It can be used on any object and is true if the object is nil.
- "Only the object nil responds true to nil?" - RailsAPI

nil.nil? = true
anthing_else.nil? = false
a = nil
a.nil? = true
“”.nil = false .empty? - It is Ruby method
- can be used on strings, arrays and hashes and returns true if: 

• String length = = 0
• Array length = = 0
• Hash length = = 0

- Running .empty? on something that is nil will throw a NoMethodError

"".empty = true
" ".empty? = false .blank? - It is Rails method
- operate on any object as well as work like .empty? on strings, arrays and hashes.

nil.blank? = true 
[].blank? = true 
{}.blank? = true 
"".blank? = true 
5.blank? == false

- It also evaluates true on strings which are non-empty but contain only whitespace:

"  ".blank? == true"  ".empty? == false Quick tip: !obj.blank? == obj.present?

activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/object/blank.rb, line 17 # (Ruby 1.9) 

def present? 
 !blank?
end 

Ruby:nil, empty? and blank? choice