diff --git a/libstdc++/std/bastring.h b/libstdc++/std/bastring.h
index f188628cc77..30fb669a842 100644
--- a/libstdc++/std/bastring.h
+++ b/libstdc++/std/bastring.h
@@ -298,7 +298,8 @@ private:
 
 public:
   const charT* c_str () const
-    { if (length () == 0) return ""; terminate (); return data (); }
+    { if (length () == 0) return traits::empty();
+      terminate (); return data (); }
   void resize (size_type n, charT c);
   void resize (size_type n)
     { resize (n, eos ()); }