I am running a client side validation javascript which will submit a form via an ajax post after validating the data. Here is the javascript:

$(.button).click(function() {



            $(.error).hide();



            var name = $(:input.name).val();

            if ((name == ) || (name.length < 4)){



                $(label#nameErr).show();

                $(:input.name).focus();

                return false;

            }



            var email = $(:input.email).val();

            if (email == ) {



                $(label#emailErr).show();

                $(:input.email).focus();

                return false;

            }





            var phone = $(:input.phone).val();

            if (phone == ) {



                $(label#phoneErr).show();

                $(:input.phone).focus();

                return false;

            }



            var comment = $(#comments).val();

            if ((!comment) || (comment > 100)) {



                $(label#commentErr).show();

                $(#comments).focus();

                alert(hello);

                return false;

            }



            var info = 'name:' + name + '&email:' + email + '&phone:' + phone + '&comment:' + comment;

            var ajaxurl = '<?php echo admin_url(admin-ajax.php); ?>';

            alert(info);



            jQuery.ajax({



                type:post,

                dataType:json,

                url: myAjax.ajaxurl,

                data: {action: 'submit_data', info: info},

                success: function(response) {

                    if (response.type == success) {



                        alert(success);

                    }

                    else {



                        alert(fail);

                    }

                }

            });



            $(:input).val('');

            return false;





        });

The four input fields are three text inputs for name, email and phone and then one textarea for the comments/queries section. The problem is that if I leave the textarea blank or enter over 100 characters the script does not go into the if ((!comment) || (comment > 100))
statement. I am wondering if there is a different value that gets assigned to a textarea when it is blank that is stopping the code from seeing it as empty ?