diff --git a/Shorewall-perl/Shorewall/Macros.pm b/Shorewall-perl/Shorewall/Macros.pm
index 9ce89481d..7698664e4 100644
--- a/Shorewall-perl/Shorewall/Macros.pm
+++ b/Shorewall-perl/Shorewall/Macros.pm
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ sub merge_macro_column( $$ ) {
     if ( defined $invocation && $invocation ne '' && $invocation ne '-' ) {
 	$invocation;
     } else {
-	$body || '';
+	$body;
     }
 }