--- /SoundexUtils.java	2023-07-05 03:04:13.162042011 +0200
+++ /Codec-1/src/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/SoundexUtils.java	2023-07-05 03:04:13.162042011 +0200
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 	 * @return A clean String.
 	 */
     static String clean(String str) {
-        if (str == null || str.length() == 0) {
+if  (  str.length (  )  == 0 )  {
             return str;
         }
         int len = str.length();
