2 files changed, 5 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/compile.c b/compile.c
index a4dbc8eb..90741253 100644
--- a/compile.c
+++ b/compile.c
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ CORD compile(ast_t *ast)
     }
     case StringLiteral: {
         const char *str = Match(ast, StringLiteral)->str; 
+        if (!str || strlen(str) == 0)
+            return "(CORD)CORD_EMPTY";
         CORD code = "\"";
         for (; *str; ++str) {
             switch (*str) {
@@ -125,7 +127,7 @@ CORD compile(ast_t *ast)
     case StringJoin: {
         ast_list_t *chunks = Match(ast, StringJoin)->children;
         if (!chunks) {
-            return "\"\"";
+            return "(CORD)CORD_EMPTY";
         } else if (!chunks->next) {
             CORD code = compile(chunks->ast);
             if (chunks->ast->tag != StringLiteral)
@@ -164,7 +166,7 @@ CORD compile(ast_t *ast)
     }
     case Assign: {
         auto assign = Match(ast, Assign);
-        CORD code = NULL;
+        CORD code = CORD_EMPTY;
         for (ast_list_t *target = assign->targets, *value = assign->values; target && value; target = target->next, value = value->next) {
             CORD_sprintf(&code, "%r = %r", compile(target->ast), compile(value->ast));
             if (target->next) code = CORD_cat(code, ", ");
diff --git a/parse.c b/parse.c
index d7d8ff74..c24cd071 100644
--- a/parse.c
+++ b/parse.c
@@ -910,7 +910,7 @@ PARSER(parse_string) {
     }
 
     ast_list_t *chunks = NULL;
-    CORD chunk = NULL;
+    CORD chunk = CORD_EMPTY;
     const char *chunk_start = pos;
     for (; pos < ctx->file->text + ctx->file->len && *pos != close_quote; ++pos) {
         if (*pos == start_interp) {