diff --git a/src/Compile/Modifier/StripTagsModifierCompiler.php b/src/Compile/Modifier/StripTagsModifierCompiler.php
index f724f773..e8885bc7 100644
--- a/src/Compile/Modifier/StripTagsModifierCompiler.php
+++ b/src/Compile/Modifier/StripTagsModifierCompiler.php
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ class StripTagsModifierCompiler extends Base {
 
 	public function compile($params, \Smarty\Compiler\Template $compiler) {
 		if (!isset($params[ 1 ]) || $params[ 1 ] === true || trim($params[ 1 ], '"') === 'true') {
-			return "preg_replace('!<[^>]*?>!', ' ', {$params[0]} ?: '')";
+			return "preg_replace('!<[^>]*?>!', ' ', (string) {$params[0]})";
 		} else {
 			return 'strip_tags((string) ' . $params[ 0 ] . ')';
 		}