Omega appears from if result

Question

I am attempting to edit an if statement that I was using in an environment I created. Previously, the code was

\if #1\empty
\else
\textbf{#1.}\hspace{0.5em}%
\fi

I want to change it to something like

\if #1\empty \textbf{}\hspace{0.5em}
\else
\textbf{#1.}\hspace{0.5em}%
\fi

where I could put what I want in the \textbf{}. But whatever I put in there, I get \Omega printed in front of it. When left empty like above, it simply prints \Omega. If #1 is not empty, there is no \Omega.

My code

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}
\newenvironment{question}[3][]{
\noindent\ignorespaces
\if #1\empty \textbf{}\hspace{0.5em}
\else
\textbf{#1.}\hspace{0.5em}%
\fi
}{}
\begin{document}
\begin{question}{0}{8}\end{question}

\begin{question}[1]{0}{8}\end{question}
\end{document}

Any advice on getting rid of this capital omega is very welcome.

Answer 1

\if expands the following tokens until it finds two expandable tokens. If #1 is empty, then \empty is expanded to nothing, then \textbf, there it finds these tokens. Expansions:

\empty ->

\empty vanishes, because its definition text is empty.

\textbf -> \protect \textbf␣

In the context here, \protect has the meaning of \relax, thus it is the first non-expandable token.

\textbf␣ #1 -> \ifmmode ...\else \hmode@bgroup ... \fi

We don't have math mode, thus the \hmode@bgroup is expanded:

\hmode@bgroup -> \leavevmode \bgroup
\leavevmode -> \unhbox \voidb@x

Now we the second non-expandable token is \unhbox. Because both tokens are command tokens, the result of \if is true and the remaining tokens are not removed. \voidb@x is executed, now as standalone token, not as argument for \unhbox. It's a character constant encoding the box number, which was intended to be used with \unhbox.

\voidb@x is number 65, defined as \char"A. In the current font this gives the uppercase omega.

Also the test fails, if #1 starts with two equal non-expandable tokens, e.g. 11.

The following example puts #1 in the macro \QuestionFirstParam and compares it via \ifx with \empty, because \ifx does not expand the following tokens, instead it compares the next two tokens:

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}
\newenvironment{question}[3][]{%
  \noindent
  \def\QuestionFirstParam{#1}%
  \ifx\QuestionFirstParam\empty
    \leavevmode
    % \textbf{}%
    % \hspace{0.5em}%
  \else
    \textbf{#1.}\hspace{0.5em}%
  \fi
  arg2 = #2, arg3 = #3%
}{}
\begin{document}
\begin{question}{0}{8}\end{question}

\begin{question}[1]{0}{8}\end{question}
\end{document}