From 6e00deffd0162aeff479f3a5bb93321b39e35b6f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Daniel Rainer <daniel.rainer@localhost>
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2026 01:03:25 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] common: remove unused constant

There was only a single usage of `EMPTY_STRING`, and there it was
immediately dereferenced, so use an empty static `&wstr` instead and
remove the `WString` constant.

Closes #12309
---
 src/common.rs | 4 ----
 src/io.rs     | 4 ++--
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/common.rs b/src/common.rs
index 33d650c04..bdc21eb17 100644
--- a/src/common.rs
+++ b/src/common.rs
@@ -1061,10 +1061,6 @@ pub fn has_working_tty_timestamps() -> bool {
     }
 }
 
-/// A global, empty string. This is useful for functions which wish to return a reference to an
-/// empty string.
-pub static EMPTY_STRING: WString = WString::new();
-
 /// A function type to check for cancellation.
 /// Return true if execution should cancel.
 /// todo!("Maybe remove the box? It is only needed for get_bg_context.")
diff --git a/src/io.rs b/src/io.rs
index cfdfd5422..5b2d1775e 100644
--- a/src/io.rs
+++ b/src/io.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use crate::builtins::shared::{STATUS_CMD_ERROR, STATUS_CMD_OK, STATUS_READ_TOO_MUCH};
-use crate::common::{EMPTY_STRING, bytes2wcstring, wcs2bytes};
+use crate::common::{bytes2wcstring, wcs2bytes};
 use crate::fd_monitor::{Callback, FdMonitor, FdMonitorItemId};
 use crate::fds::{
     BorrowedFdFile, PIPE_ERROR, make_autoclose_pipes, make_fd_nonblocking, wopen_cloexec,
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@ impl OutputStream {
     pub fn contents(&self) -> &wstr {
         match self {
             OutputStream::String(stream) => stream.contents(),
-            OutputStream::Null | OutputStream::Fd(_) | OutputStream::Buffered(_) => &EMPTY_STRING,
+            OutputStream::Null | OutputStream::Fd(_) | OutputStream::Buffered(_) => L!(""),
         }
     }