*** imaplib.py	Thu Nov 20 17:02:53 2003
--- imaplib2.py	Thu Nov 20 17:02:44 2003
***************
*** 980,985 ****
--- 980,987 ----
  
          if type(arg) is not type(''):
              return arg
+         if len(arg) == 0:
+             return arg
          if (arg[0],arg[-1]) in (('(',')'),('"','"')):
              return arg
          if self.mustquote.search(arg) is None: