Index: src/Common/utility.h
===================================================================
--- src/Common/utility.h	(revision 940bba39c1771f035b99e2eb760a39c88b07ff44)
+++ src/Common/utility.h	(revision 1b7727498168639c89eefe42fd1a1772a41b30d1)
@@ -10,6 +10,6 @@
 // Created On       : Mon May 18 07:44:20 2015
 // Last Modified By : Peter A. Buhr
-// Last Modified On : Wed Jun  8 17:33:59 2016
-// Update Count     : 22
+// Last Modified On : Fri Sep 16 19:13:21 2016
+// Update Count     : 26
 //
 
@@ -25,4 +25,5 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <string>
+#include <cassert>
 
 template< typename T >
@@ -104,12 +105,7 @@
 
 static inline std::string assign_strptr( const std::string *str ) {
-	if ( str == 0 ) {
-		return "";
-	} else {
-		std::string tmp;
-		tmp = *str;
-		delete str;
-		return tmp;
-	} // if
+	std::string tmp( *str );
+	delete str;
+	return tmp;
 }