diff --git a/core/errorhandler/controller/ErrorPageController.php b/core/errorhandler/controller/ErrorPageController.php
index 481355a2b..3f34a26ec 100644
--- a/core/errorhandler/controller/ErrorPageController.php
+++ b/core/errorhandler/controller/ErrorPageController.php
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public function transformContent() {
       $model = Singleton::getInstance(ErrorPageViewModel::class);
 
       $errors = array_reverse(debug_backtrace());
-      $buffer = (string)'';
+      $buffer = '';
 
       $errorEntry = $this->getTemplate('ErrorEntry');
 
diff --git a/modules/comments/pres/controller/CommentListingController.php b/modules/comments/pres/controller/CommentListingController.php
index bd0d8dc5e..ba537aa0b 100644
--- a/modules/comments/pres/controller/CommentListingController.php
+++ b/modules/comments/pres/controller/CommentListingController.php
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public function transformContent() {
       // load the entries using the business component
       $entries = $m->loadEntries();
 
-      $buffer = (string)'';
+      $buffer = '';
       $template = $this->getTemplate('ArticleComment');
 
       $i = 1;
diff --git a/tools/form/taglib/SelectBoxTag.php b/tools/form/taglib/SelectBoxTag.php
index 5cd0c91c8..ace397724 100644
--- a/tools/form/taglib/SelectBoxTag.php
+++ b/tools/form/taglib/SelectBoxTag.php
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ public function transform() {
 
       // create html code
       if ($this->isVisible) {
-         $select = (string)'';
+         $select = '';
          $select .= '<select ' . $this->getSanitizedAttributesAsString($this->attributes) . '>';
 
          $this->transformChildren();
diff --git a/tools/string/StringAssistant.php b/tools/string/StringAssistant.php
index fbceadeef..b4b4258ba 100644
--- a/tools/string/StringAssistant.php
+++ b/tools/string/StringAssistant.php
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ public static function encodeCharactersToHTML(string $string) {
 
       $content = trim($string);
 
-      $encodedContent = (string)'';
+      $encodedContent = '';
 
       for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($content); $i++) {
          $encodedContent .= '&#' . ord($content[$i]) . ';';
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ public static function generateCaptchaString(int $length) {
 
       $characterBase = 'ABCDEFGHJKLMNPRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnpqrstuvwxyz23456789';
 
-      $string = (string)'';
+      $string = '';
 
       while (strlen($string) < $length) {
          $string .= substr($characterBase, (rand() % (strlen($characterBase))), 1);