empty

Here’s how to check in Bash if a variable is empty or unset.

if [ -z "${VAR}" ]; 
then
  echo 'do something'
else
  echo 'do another'
fi

One liner

if [ -z "${VAR}" ]; then echo 'do something'; else echo 'do another'; fi

The inverse

if [ ! -z "${VAR}" ]; 
then
  echo 'do something'
else
  echo 'do another'
fi

if [ ! -z "${VAR}" ]; then echo 'do something'; else echo 'do another'; fi