Checking if a Python list is empty

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.

Checking with if not

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. 
# Check if the list is empty
if not emptyList:
    print('The list is empty')

Reversing the condition

# Reverse the condition
if emptyList:
    print('The list is not empty')
else:
    print('The list is empty')

Note

Since None is also considered False, if you want to strictly compare None and an empty list, you can use the “is None” operator to check.

Checking for an empty list considering None

# Checking for an empty list considering None
if emptyList is None:
    print('It is None')
elif not emptyList:
    print('The list is empty')

Checking with the built-in len function

If you pass a list to the len function, it returns the number of elements in the list. If the len function returns zero, the list is empty. 
# Check with the len function
if len(emptyList) == 0:
    print('The list is empty')

Comparing with an empty list

The previous methods also consider numeric zero and an empty string as true. To prevent this, compare it to an empty list. 
# Compare with an empty list
if emptyList == []:
    print('The list is empty')

References

Test Environment