<p>example:</p>

<p>I want to see if <code>array[5]</code> holds a value or is empty.</p>

There is no such thing as an "empty" element in a Java array. If the array's length is at least six, then element 5 exists and it has a value. If you have not assigned anything else to that location, then it will have the value zero, just like an object's uninitialized field would have.
If it is an array of
```
Object
```
descendants, then you can check whether the element is equal to
```
null
```
.