--- /RefinedSoundex.java	2023-07-05 03:07:06.822036442 +0200
+++ /Codec-1/src/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/RefinedSoundex.java	2023-07-05 03:07:06.822036442 +0200
@@ -157,8 +157,9 @@
         }
         str = SoundexUtils.clean(str);
         if (str.length() == 0) {
-            return str;
-        }
+ 
+return str; 
+ 
 
         StringBuffer sBuf = new StringBuffer();
         sBuf.append(str.charAt(0));
