diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/replication/VerifyReplication.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/replication/VerifyReplication.java
index c0aa7459766..c4dd3ad09b4 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/replication/VerifyReplication.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/replication/VerifyReplication.java
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ public class VerifyReplication extends Configured implements Tool {
   static int versions = -1;
   static String tableName = null;
   static String families = null;
-  static String delimiter = null;
+  static String delimiter = "";
   static String peerId = null;
   static String rowPrefixes = null;