From b27caf296366fba92cd77f6b1d0505a523b9edca Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "M.P. Korstanje" <rien.korstanje@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2025 01:10:57 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] Use the empty string to represent the true expression

---
 .../io/cucumber/tagexpressions/TagExpressionParser.java   | 2 +-
 testdata/evaluations.yml                                  | 8 ++++++++
 testdata/parsing.yml                                      | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/java/src/main/java/io/cucumber/tagexpressions/TagExpressionParser.java b/java/src/main/java/io/cucumber/tagexpressions/TagExpressionParser.java
index e71d74f3..540c10d1 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/io/cucumber/tagexpressions/TagExpressionParser.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/io/cucumber/tagexpressions/TagExpressionParser.java
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ public boolean evaluate(List<String> variables) {
 
         @Override
         public String toString() {
-            return "true";
+            return "";
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/testdata/evaluations.yml b/testdata/evaluations.yml
index a84fb3ca..9a7c7b96 100644
--- a/testdata/evaluations.yml
+++ b/testdata/evaluations.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+- expression: ''
+  tests:
+    - variables: []
+      result: true
+    - variables: ['x']
+      result: true
+    - variables: ['y']
+      result: true
 - expression: 'not x'
   tests:
     - variables: ['x']
diff --git a/testdata/parsing.yml b/testdata/parsing.yml
index c12f1c54..ad53c9f1 100644
--- a/testdata/parsing.yml
+++ b/testdata/parsing.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 - expression: ''
-  formatted: 'true'
+  formatted: ''
 - expression: 'a and b'
   formatted: '( a and b )'
 - expression: 'a or b'

From d5457a6bbea6892474483833d29809e051dd314a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "M.P. Korstanje" <rien.korstanje@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2025 01:13:23 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] Fix all other implementations

---
 go/parser.go                                     | 2 +-
 javascript/src/index.ts                          | 2 +-
 perl/lib/Cucumber/TagExpressions/Node.pm         | 2 +-
 php/src/Expression/TrueExpression.php            | 2 +-
 python/src/cucumber_tag_expressions/model.py     | 2 +-
 ruby/lib/cucumber/tag_expressions/expressions.rb | 2 +-
 6 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/go/parser.go b/go/parser.go
index 4ff46382..030b5fe4 100644
--- a/go/parser.go
+++ b/go/parser.go
@@ -249,5 +249,5 @@ func (t *trueExpr) Evaluate(variables []string) bool {
 }
 
 func (t *trueExpr) ToString() string {
-	return "true"
+	return ""
 }
diff --git a/javascript/src/index.ts b/javascript/src/index.ts
index 2d09f602..2d6e412e 100644
--- a/javascript/src/index.ts
+++ b/javascript/src/index.ts
@@ -236,6 +236,6 @@ class True implements Node {
   }
 
   public toString() {
-    return 'true'
+    return ''
   }
 }
diff --git a/perl/lib/Cucumber/TagExpressions/Node.pm b/perl/lib/Cucumber/TagExpressions/Node.pm
index 3880cc05..c15e1100 100644
--- a/perl/lib/Cucumber/TagExpressions/Node.pm
+++ b/perl/lib/Cucumber/TagExpressions/Node.pm
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ An instance of one of the other node class types.
     sub stringify {
         my ( $self ) = @_;
 
-        return 'true' if not defined $self->sub_expression;
+        return '' if not defined $self->sub_expression;
         return $self->sub_expression->stringify;
     }
 }
diff --git a/php/src/Expression/TrueExpression.php b/php/src/Expression/TrueExpression.php
index e49e92df..a8820d93 100644
--- a/php/src/Expression/TrueExpression.php
+++ b/php/src/Expression/TrueExpression.php
@@ -16,6 +16,6 @@ public function evaluate(array $variables): bool
 
     public function __toString(): string
     {
-        return 'true';
+        return '';
     }
 }
diff --git a/python/src/cucumber_tag_expressions/model.py b/python/src/cucumber_tag_expressions/model.py
index 509a2ef2..0dcac724 100644
--- a/python/src/cucumber_tag_expressions/model.py
+++ b/python/src/cucumber_tag_expressions/model.py
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ def evaluate(self, values):
         return True
 
     def __str__(self):
-        return "true"
+        return ""
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return "True_()"
diff --git a/ruby/lib/cucumber/tag_expressions/expressions.rb b/ruby/lib/cucumber/tag_expressions/expressions.rb
index 737bde37..53c3679c 100644
--- a/ruby/lib/cucumber/tag_expressions/expressions.rb
+++ b/ruby/lib/cucumber/tag_expressions/expressions.rb
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def evaluate(_variables)
       end
 
       def to_s
-        'true'
+        ''
       end
     end
   end

From 272f69a4c9adbf97a433b2794a2ffc96033949a8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "M.P. Korstanje" <rien.korstanje@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2025 19:42:35 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 3/3] Update CHANGELOG

---
 CHANGELOG.md | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e6c19047..e397b73b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/)
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
+### Fixed
+- Render the empty tag expression as an empty string ([#222](https://github.com/cucumber/tag-expressions/pull/222))
 
 ## [8.0.0] - 2025-10-14
 ### Fixed