# What Does ISEMPTY() Function Do in PostgreSQL?

> In PostgreSQL, the ISEMPTY() is an in-built range function that accepts a range or multi-range as an argument and retrieves a TRUE or FALSE value.

PostgreSQL offers various inbuilt range functions for efficient manipulation of ranges. These functions serve specific purposes related to range types. For example, the **isempty()** function checks for an empty range, **lower_inc()** checks if the lower bound is inclusive, the **lower()** function returns the lower bound of the range, and so on.

This write-up illustrates a complete guide on the usage of the ISEMPTY() function in PostgreSQL.

 **What Does ISEMPTY() Function Do in PostgreSQL?**

In PostgreSQL, the ISEMPTY() is an in-built range function that accepts a range or multi-range as an argument and retrieves a TRUE or FALSE value. The TRUE values state that the given range is empty while the FALSE value indicates that the specified range/multi-range is not empty.

 **Syntax**

Use the below-stated syntax to check if the given range/multi-range is empty or not:
    
    
    ISEMPTY(range | multirange);

 **Parameters**

The stated function accepts a single-range or multi-range value as an argument.

 **Return Value**

It retrieves a True or False value which shows if the given range is empty or not.

 **Return Type**

The return type of the stated function is Boolean.

 **Example 1**

In the following example, the ISEMPTY() function is applied to a specific range to check if it is empty or not:
    
    
    SELECT ISEMPTY('(2, 4]'::int4range);

Here in the above example,

\- The “(2, 4]” represents a range that contains the integer values between the following range “> 2” and “<= 4”.  
\- The "::int4range" is used to explicitly specify that the given range is of INTEGER data type.

The stated function retrieves “false”, which means the given range is not empty.

 **Example 2**

In the following example, the ISEMPTY() function is applied to a specific range to check if it is empty or not:
    
    
    SELECT ISEMPTY('(2, 3)'::int4range);

Here in the above example,

\- The “(2, 3)” represents a range that contains the integer values between the following range “> 2” and “<3”.  
\- The ISEMPTY() function will return true as output because there are no integer values between 2 (exclusive) and 3 (exclusive) in the specified range.

The “true” value in the output demonstrates that the specified range is empty.

 **Conclusion**

In PostgreSQL, the ISEMPTY() is an in-built range function that accepts a range or multi-range as an argument and retrieves a TRUE or FALSE value. The TRUE values state that the given range is empty while the FALSE value indicates that the specified range/multi-range is not empty. This post has illustrated a couple of use cases of the ISEMPTY() function in PostgreSQL.

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