--- /dev/null
+class Object
+ # An object is blank if it's false, empty, or a whitespace string.
+ # For example, "", " ", +nil+, [], and {} are blank.
+ #
+ # This simplifies:
+ #
+ # if !address.nil? && !address.empty?
+ #
+ # ...to:
+ #
+ # if !address.blank?
+ def blank?
+ respond_to?(:empty?) ? empty? : !self
+ end
+
+ # An object is present if it's not blank.
+ def present?
+ !blank?
+ end
+
+ # Returns object if it's #present? otherwise returns nil.
+ # object.presence is equivalent to object.present? ? object : nil.
+ #
+ # This is handy for any representation of objects where blank is the same
+ # as not present at all. For example, this simplifies a common check for
+ # HTTP POST/query parameters:
+ #
+ # state = params[:state] if params[:state].present?
+ # country = params[:country] if params[:country].present?
+ # region = state || country || 'US'
+ #
+ # ...becomes:
+ #
+ # region = params[:state].presence || params[:country].presence || 'US'
+ def presence
+ self if present?
+ end
+end
+
+class NilClass #:nodoc:
+ def blank?
+ true
+ end
+end
+
+class FalseClass #:nodoc:
+ def blank?
+ true
+ end
+end
+
+class TrueClass #:nodoc:
+ def blank?
+ false
+ end
+end
+
+class Array #:nodoc:
+ alias_method :blank?, :empty?
+end
+
+class Hash #:nodoc:
+ alias_method :blank?, :empty?
+end
+
+class String #:nodoc:
+ def blank?
+ self !~ /\S/
+ end
+end
+
+class Numeric #:nodoc:
+ def blank?
+ false
+ end
+end