diff --git a/data/System/FilterPlugin.txt b/data/System/FilterPlugin.txt
index b5e312d..26431a4 100644
--- a/data/System/FilterPlugin.txt
+++ b/data/System/FilterPlugin.txt
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ prepended with a header and appended with a footer in case the list is not empty
    * footer="...": footer string
    * separator="...": string to be inserted between list items
    * null="...": the format string to render the empty list
+   * hideempty="on,off": when set to "on" then empty list items will not be added to the result (empty in the sense of ''); set this to "off" to still add them (default "on")
    * limit="...": max number of items to be taken out of the list (default "-1")
    * skip="...": number of list items to skip, not adding them to the result
    * sort="on,off,alpha,num,nocase" order of the formatted items (default "off")
@@ -258,11 +259,12 @@ compare with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Philosophy_articles_needing
    * Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Substitute and extract information from content by using regular expressions
 -->
 |  Plugin Author: | Michael Daum |
-|  Copyright ©: | 2005-2011, Michael Daum http://michaeldaumconsulting.com |
+|  Copyright ©: | 2005-2012, Michael Daum http://michaeldaumconsulting.com |
 |  License: | GPL ([[http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html][GNU General Public License]]) |
 |  Release: | %$RELEASE% |
 |  Version: | %$VERSION% |
 |  Change History: | <!-- versions below in reverse order -->&nbsp; |
+|  10 Jan 2012: | fixed filtering zero; fixed counting list items without formating them; added =hideempty= parameter to enable/disable rendering empty list items |
 |  29 Sep 2011: | fixed SUBST macro =topic= param processing embedded META |
 |  25 Aug 2011: | fixed perl rookie error initializing defaults |
 |  14 Jul 2011: | fixed parsing zero values in lists (by Grzegorz Marszalek) |
diff --git a/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/FilterPlugin.pm b/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/FilterPlugin.pm
index 6e74a90..4686d84 100644
--- a/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/FilterPlugin.pm
+++ b/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/FilterPlugin.pm
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Plugin for Foswiki - The Free and Open Source Wiki, http://foswiki.org/
 #
-# Copyright (C) 2005-2011 Michael Daum http://michaeldaumconsulting.com
+# Copyright (C) 2005-2012 Michael Daum http://michaeldaumconsulting.com
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 # modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ use vars qw(
     );
 
 $VERSION = '$Rev$';
-$RELEASE = '2.07';
+$RELEASE = '2.08';
 $NO_PREFS_IN_TOPIC = 1;
 $SHORTDESCRIPTION = 'Substitute and extract information from content by using regular expressions';
 
diff --git a/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/FilterPlugin/Core.pm b/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/FilterPlugin/Core.pm
index a086e4c..ca7fa81 100644
--- a/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/FilterPlugin/Core.pm
+++ b/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/FilterPlugin/Core.pm
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Plugin for Foswiki - The Free and Open Source Wiki, http://foswiki.org/
 #
-# Copyright (C) 2005-2011 Michael Daum http://michaeldaumconsulting.com
+# Copyright (C) 2005-2012 Michael Daum http://michaeldaumconsulting.com
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 # modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ sub handleFilter {
 
   # get the source text
   my $text = '';
-  if ($theText) { # direct text
+  if (defined $theText) { # direct text
     $text = $theText;
   } else { # topic text
     return '' if $filteredTopic{"$theWeb.$theTopic"};
@@ -529,6 +529,7 @@ sub handleFormatList {
   my $theMap = $params->{map};
   my $theNullFormat = $params->{null} || '';
   my $theTokenize = $params->{tokenize};
+  my $theHideEmpty = Foswiki::Func::isTrue($params->{hideempty}, 1);
 
   $theFormat = '$1' unless defined $theFormat;
 
@@ -637,7 +638,7 @@ sub handleFormatList {
       next if $seen{$line};
       $seen{$line} = 1;
     }
-    next if $line eq '';
+
     $line =~ s/\$index/$count+1/ge;
     if ($theSelection && $item =~ /$theSelection/) {
       $line =~ s/\$marker/$theMarker/g 
@@ -645,7 +646,7 @@ sub handleFormatList {
       $line =~ s/\$marker//go;
     }
     if ($skip-- <= 0) {
-      push @result, $line;
+      push @result, $line unless ($theHideEmpty && $line eq '');
       $count++;
       last if $theLimit - $count == 0;
     }