Given

val string: String? = "possibly-null"

Which of the following do people prefer to get either the value or an empty string if it's null?

val stringOrEmpty: String = string ?: ""

1️⃣ or

val stringOrEmpty: String = string.orEmpty()

2️⃣

I think

orEmpty

conveys the intention better.

I'm a bit torn, actually. 🌪️

I always use

.orEmpty()

if available for consistency. Makes the code more comprehensible than the cryptic

?: ""

esp. in chains longer than a simple

a.onEmpty()

. Also, longer chains would require parenthesis with

(a ?: "").foo()…

. Also, in other scenarios like

?: emptyList()

creating an empty value is quite lengthy.

When it comes to chaining, I'm definitely more for

orEmpty()

. The same goes for lists (

.orEmpty()

>

?: emptyList()

).