date formatting question

[Joe Johnson <jejohn1216@SURFREE.COM>]

Hey, group!

We have an SQR that runs on the server, and bombs out with the message "Error on line 689: (SQR 1944) The date ' ' is not in the format specified by SQR_DB_DATE_FORMAT or in one of the accepted formats listed below:
DD-MON-YY
SYYYYMMDD[HH24[MI[SS[NNNNNN]]]]"

In the infamous (to us)line 689, there is this:

 if  (&b.emplid <> $emplid or &b.check_dt <> $check_dt) or
      #current-line = 11
      print $printcheckdt (0,{c5a})
  end-if

Now, earlier in the file,
$check_dt is set to ' ' to initialize the variable.

QUESTION: Shouldn't the variable $check_dt be set to '' instead of ' '?
{that is, quote-quote instead of quote-space-quote}

&b.check_dt, by the way, is formatted by
do format-datetime(&b.check_dt,$printcheckdt,{DEFMDY},'','')

TIA -- as always!

Joe Johnson ;{)
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