diff --git a/src/stralloc.c b/src/stralloc.c
index 69c20f07558f1dd196dd2f6ad54eb6d6ea32c5b0..db28194f1ca293ca9d845c6fc733d504a60dc077 100644
--- a/src/stralloc.c
+++ b/src/stralloc.c
@@ -2139,6 +2139,7 @@ void init_shared_string_table(void)
   base_table=xcalloc(sizeof(struct pike_string *), htable_size);
 
   empty_pike_string = make_shared_string("");
+  empty_pike_string->flags |= STRING_IS_LOWERCASE | STRING_IS_UPPERCASE;
 }
 
 #ifdef DO_PIKE_CLEANUP