Best Way to Check Empty Table

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#1

What would be the best way to check if this table is empty:

local Table = {}
Table[workspace.Part] = true
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#2 
function isEmpty(t)
    local hasRecord = false
    for _,_ in pairs(t) do
        hasRecord = true
        break
    end

    return hasRecord
end

Note: You can simplify this so it just returns true in the for loop, but I opted for a more explicit approach to avoid potential confusion.

1 Like
#3

would something like

next(Table)

work?

2 Likes
#4

Oh, wow. I didn’t even think of that. That makes this a lot simpler:

function isEmpty(t)
    return next(t) ~= nil
end
10 Likes
Detecting if table is empty (dictionary)
#5

I assume it would be faster than your first posted solution since it deals with roblox’s backend?

#6

It would be somewhat faster most likely, but not because of what you mention. next is a built-in Lua function and doesn’t interact with the Roblox api. The reason why it is faster is because you have no loop setup cost and you’re doing fewer statements/comparisons.

4 Likes
#8

Just a head up, I know that this post is old. But to clear any confusion relating with the function name, the returning should be like this:

function isEmpty(t)
    return next(t) == nil
end
16 Likes