--- /RefinedSoundex.java	2023-07-05 02:32:37.098157962 +0200
+++ /Codec-1/src/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/RefinedSoundex.java	2023-07-05 02:32:37.098157962 +0200
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@
 	 * @return A soundex code for the String supplied
 	 */
     public String soundex(String str) {
-        if (str == null) {
+if  (  ( str.length (  )  )  == 0 )  {     return str; }
             return null;
         }
         str = SoundexUtils.clean(str);
