check if any element of an array is not "empty"

hi, as a result of one calculation I'm receiving an array where elements could be 0 or date (as string yyyy-mm-dd hh:ii:ss). I have to check if any of elements of the array is "date" or if all elements of the array is 0? If I try array_sum($result) I'll get 0 no matter what (0 + $string = 0). I know I can do something like: foreach($result as $value) { if ($value !=0) { $alert = true; } } or if (in_array($result, '-')) { $alert = true; } but I was thinking if there is the function does that. thanks for any help. -afan