Does $if function really do a $strip before checking condition?

[Chen Jun (陈军)]

Hello. I have such a makefile

##############################
var=
var+=
       # var contains a space


all:
       @$(if $(var),echo "direct: var is NOT empty",echo "direct: var 
is empty")
##############################

On make 3.80 & 3.81, it both outputs

direct: var is NOT empty

However, make 3.81 doc ch 8.4 says

{quote}

|$(if condition,then-part[,else-part])|

...

The first argument, condition, first has all preceding and trailing 
whitespace stripped, then is expanded. If it expands to any non-empty 
string, then the condition is considered to be true. If it expands to an 
empty string, the condition is considered to be false.
{quote}

Then why my makefile outputs "var is NOT empty" when $(var) would 
definitely strip down to a null string? Can someone help explain this?