when a variable is a zombie or not?

Question

I would like to check when a variable is a zombie & when it is not, i have function like this one, where y have to remove from superlayer if it actually exist, sometimes it is removed already, but being a zombie, it is crashing in this point. What should I do in order to check if the variable is a zombie or not at runtime?

 if (avPlayerLayer) {
         [avPlayerLayer removeFromSuperlayer];  
 }

I have this code to create it:

if (!avPlayer) {
        avPlayer = [[AVPlayer alloc] initWithURL:movieURL];
    } else {
        [avPlayer replaceCurrentItemWithPlayerItem:[AVPlayerItem playerItemWithURL:movieURL]];
        avPlayer.rate = 0.0f;
    }
}
avPlayerLayer = [AVPlayerLayer playerLayerWithPlayer:avPlayer];

Should I do something like this instead?:

if (!avPlayer) {
        avPlayer = [[AVPlayer alloc] initWithURL:movieURL];
    } else {
        avPlayer = nil;
        avPlayer = [[AVPlayer alloc] initWithURL:movieURL];
        avPlayer.rate = 0.0f;
    }
}
avPlayerLayer = [AVPlayerLayer playerLayerWithPlayer:avPlayer];

Any help? thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Why not set the variable to nil instead, and then check for nil.