diff --git a/gcc/ChangeLog b/gcc/ChangeLog
index b1f4d7f5eb7..81171bedf33 100644
--- a/gcc/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2018-10-10  Bernd Edlinger  <bernd.edlinger@hotmail.de>
+
+	* varasm.c (mergeable_string_section): Don't try to move zero-length
+	strings to the merge section.
+
 2018-10-10  Uros Bizjak  <ubizjak@gmail.com>
 
 	PR target/87573
diff --git a/gcc/varasm.c b/gcc/varasm.c
index c789a03e1f3..78cb000ca04 100644
--- a/gcc/varasm.c
+++ b/gcc/varasm.c
@@ -804,7 +804,7 @@ mergeable_string_section (tree decl ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
       && TREE_CODE (decl) == STRING_CST
       && TREE_CODE (TREE_TYPE (decl)) == ARRAY_TYPE
       && align <= 256
-      && (len = int_size_in_bytes (TREE_TYPE (decl))) >= 0
+      && (len = int_size_in_bytes (TREE_TYPE (decl))) > 0
       && TREE_STRING_LENGTH (decl) == len)
     {
       scalar_int_mode mode;