diff --git a/Operand.h b/Operand.h
index 00add68..d569e34 100644
--- a/Operand.h
+++ b/Operand.h
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ namespace jet {
       ///
       
       bool boolean;
-      coreutils::MString string;
+      coreutils::MString string = "";
       
       double doubleValue;
       
diff --git a/tests/dump.txt b/tests/dump.txt
index bf7716b..aa366fb 100644
--- a/tests/dump.txt
+++ b/tests/dump.txt
@@ -6,9 +6,10 @@ complete=[ABCD;tohex]
 division=[1.666666666667]
 divisor=[8]
 error=[64]
+exprnumbers=[0123456789]
 include=[yes]
 ix=[1]
-lefty=[]
+lefty=[01234]
 modified1=[ABCD]
 multiplication=[15]
 nested=[64]
diff --git a/tests/testexpr.jet b/tests/testexpr.jet
index f159e5a..879b35d 100755
--- a/tests/testexpr.jet
+++ b/tests/testexpr.jet
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 <jet name1="localname" filterblanklines="true" trimlines="true">
 <set name="test1" value="5 + 5" />
 <set name="test2" expr="expr($[test1])" />
-$[test2]
+$[test2]=10
 <set name="numbers">0123456789</set>
 <set name="lefty" expr="left($[numbers],5)" />
-$[lefty]
+$[lefty]=01234
 </jet>
diff --git a/tests/testjet.jet b/tests/testjet.jet
index 35163fd..0034cb6 100755
--- a/tests/testjet.jet
+++ b/tests/testjet.jet
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@
  <set name="error" value="$[nested]" />
  $[nested]
  <set name="numbers">0123456789</set>
+ $[numbers]
+ <set name="exprnumbers" expr="$[numbers]" />
+ $[exprnumbers]
  <set name="lefty" expr="LEFT($[numbers],5)" />
  lefty=[$[lefty]]
  substring('abcdefg', 1, 3)=[$[theexpr]]