if conditions in PHP and Laravel

web.php

$condition = 'false'; // string length is evaluated to true
if ($condition) {
    // true
}

$condition = ''; // string length is zero, so it is evaluated to false
if ($condition) {
    // false
}

$condition = 0; // integer zero is evaluated to false
if ($condition) {
    // false
}

$condition = 1; // integer one is evaluated to true
if ($condition) {
    // true
}

$condition = null; // null is evaluated to false
if ($condition) {
    // false
}

$condition = []; // array length is zero, so it is evaluated to false
if ($condition) {
    // false
}

$condition = ['a']; // array length is one, so it is evaluated to true
if ($condition) {
    // true
}

$condition = new stdClass();  // object is evaluated to true even if it is empty without any properties
if ($condition) {
    // true
}

$condition = new stdClass();
$condition->a = 'a'; // object is evaluated to true if it has at least one property
if ($condition) {
    // true
}

$condition = User::where('id', 1)
    ->first(); // use of first() on eloquent model will return App\Models\User object if there is a record in the database, otherwise it will return null
if ($condition) {
    // user found
}else{
    // null is returned
}

$condition = User::where('id', 1)
    ->get(); // use of get() will return Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Collection  wrapped 'App/Models/User' inside of items array

if($condition){
    // this condition will be true even if there is no record in the database
    // because the collection object is not empty and if is evaluating on the collection object size
    // just like array length; in this case the collection object will
}

// so a better way to check when using get() is to check if the collection object is empty or not
if ($condition->isEmpty()) {
    // no user is found
} else {
    // user(s) is found
}


// same goes with Query Builder

$condition = DB::table('users')
    ->where('id', 1)
    ->first(); // use of first() on query builder will return stdClass object if there is a record in the database, otherwise it will return null

if ($condition) {
    // user found
}else{
    // null is returned
}

$condition = DB::table('users')
    ->where('id', 1)
    ->get(); // use of get() will return Illuminate\Support\Collection wrapped stdClass object inside of items array

if($condition){
    // this condition will be true even if there is no record in the database
    // because the collection object is not empty and if is evaluating on the collection object size
    // just like array length; in this case the collection object
}

// so a better way to check when using get() is to check if the collection object is empty or not
if ($condition->isEmpty()) {
    // no user is found
} else {
    // user(s) is found
}