PDO is inserting "null" for empty values

Question

I am using PDO for writing to sqlite database.

// $dbo is an instance of PDO

$query     = "INSERT INTO items (id, name, rank) VALUES (:id, :name, :rank)";
$statement = $dbo->prepare($query);

$values = array('id' => 1, 'name' => 'Some Name', 'rank' => '');
 
$statement->execute($values);

$values = array('id' => 1, 'name' => 'Some Name', 'rank' => NULL);
 
$statement->execute($values);

After executing any of these, I expect "rank" to be an empty string or even a NULL is acceptable. But what I get in the database is 'null' , yes a string 'null' value, not the real NULL .

Could not find any solution after several attempts.

Answer 1

Try sending NULL directly in this line

  $values = array('id' => 1, 'name' => 'Some Name', 'rank' => NULL);