Avoid using list_length() to test for empty list.
Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Avoid using list_length() to test for empty list. The standard way to check for list emptiness is to compare the List pointer to NIL; our list code goes out of its way to ensure that that is the only representation of an empty list. (An acceptable alternative is a plain boolean test for non-null pointer, but explicit mention of NIL is usually preferable.) Various places didn't get that memo and expressed the condition with list_length(), which might not be so bad except that there were such a variety of ways to check it exactly: equal to zero, less than or equal to zero, less than one, yadda yadda. In the name of code readability, let's standardize all those spellings as "list == NIL" or "list != NIL". (There's probably some microscopic efficiency gain too, though few of these look to be at all performance-critical.) A very small number of cases were left as-is because they seemed more consistent with other adjacent list_length tests that way. Peter Smith, with bikeshedding from a number of us Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CAHut+PtQYe+ENX5KrONMfugf0q6NHg4hR5dAhqEXEc2eefFeig@mail.gmail.com
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- Propose a new function - list_is_empty 16 messages · 2022-08-16 → 2022-08-17