Index: libcfa/src/collections/string_res.cfa
===================================================================
--- libcfa/src/collections/string_res.cfa	(revision 02c5880ef5e449eff27c777e52cfa666f96c142e)
+++ libcfa/src/collections/string_res.cfa	(revision 37ceccbccec1df04d3e17e8c2deb88d47c942720)
@@ -236,4 +236,5 @@
         // get bytes
         try {
+			*(temp.Handle.ulink->EndVbyte) = '\0';   // pre-assign empty cstring
             in | wdi( lenReadable, temp.Handle.ulink->EndVbyte );
         } catch (cstring_length*) {
@@ -247,5 +248,5 @@
     }
 
-    s = temp;
+	if ( temp.Handle.lnth > 0 ) s = temp;
     return in;
 }
@@ -268,18 +269,26 @@
 	cstr[wd] = '\0';									// guard null terminate string
 	try {
+		cstr[0] = '\0';									// pre-assign as empty cstring
 		is | cf;
 	} catch( cstring_length * ) {
 		cont = true;
 	} finally {
-        if ( ! cf.flags.ignore ) *(f.s) = cstr;			// ok to initialize string
+		if ( ! cf.flags.ignore &&						// ok to initialize string
+				cstr[0] != '\0' ) {						// something was read
+			*(f.s) = cstr;
+		}
 	} // try
 	for ( ; cont; )  {									// overflow read ?
 		cont = false;
 		try {
+			cstr[0] = '\0';								// pre-assign as empty cstring
 			is | cf;
 		} catch( cstring_length * ) {
 			cont = true;								// continue not allowed
 		} finally {
-			if ( ! cf.flags.ignore ) *(f.s) += cstr;	// build string chunk at a time
+			if ( ! cf.flags.ignore &&
+					cstr[0] != '\0' ) {					// something was read
+				*(f.s) += cstr;							// build string chunk at a time
+			}
 		} // try
 	} // for
Index: libcfa/src/iostream.cfa
===================================================================
--- libcfa/src/iostream.cfa	(revision 02c5880ef5e449eff27c777e52cfa666f96c142e)
+++ libcfa/src/iostream.cfa	(revision 37ceccbccec1df04d3e17e8c2deb88d47c942720)
@@ -1021,5 +1021,4 @@
 		int check = f.wd - 2;
 		if (! f.flags.ignore ) {
-			f.s[0] = '\0';
 			if ( ! f.flags.rwd ) f.s[check] = '\0';		// insert sentinel
 		}