Testing Value of Variable

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]I am loading contents of a text file into a variable in my flash movie (this is a hybrid director/flash app - the director loads the contents of a text file into a variable in the flash movie).[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]How would I test that variable to see if it is empty?[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]I am wanting to write a chunk of code so that if the variable has nothing in it, the movie jumps to a certain marker. Here is what I have so far:[/SIZE][/FONT]

if (variablename ==  "") {
     gotoAndPlay  ("marker2")
 } else  {
     gotoAndPlay  ("marker1")
 }
 

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Am I on the right track? The textfield that is the variable sits at the root level, and I am testing it from a movie clip, so should i make it _root.variablename?
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