empty.property

Code example

<?php declare(strict_types = 1);

class Bar {}

class Foo
{
	public Bar $bar;

	public function __construct()
	{
		$this->bar = new Bar();
	}
}

function test(): void
{
	$foo = new Foo();
	$foo->bar = new Bar();
	if (empty($foo->bar)) {
		echo 'empty';
	}
}

Why is it reported?

The property used inside empty() has a type that PHPStan can fully evaluate for emptiness. When the property type is always falsy or never falsy, the empty() check is either always true or always false, indicating a logic error or a check that should be written more explicitly.

In the example above, $foo->bar is typed as Bar, which is an object and can never be falsy. The empty() call on it always returns false.

How to fix it

Remove the redundant empty() check since an object value is never falsy:

 function test(): void
 {
 	$foo = new Foo();
 	$foo->bar = new Bar();
-	if (empty($foo->bar)) {
-		echo 'empty';
-	}
+	echo $foo->bar::class;
 }

If the property can legitimately be nullable, adjust the type to reflect that:

 class Foo
 {
-	public Bar $bar;
+	public ?Bar $bar;

 	public function __construct()
 	{
-		$this->bar = new Bar();
+		$this->bar = null;
 	}
 }