diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchAction.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchAction.java
index 4a03405a399..6b5a80f9081 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchAction.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchAction.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchOperationThreading;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Client;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
@@ -183,7 +184,7 @@ public class RestSearchAction extends BaseRestHandler {
 
         String sField = request.param("fields");
         if (sField != null) {
-            if (sField.length() == 0) {
+            if (!Strings.hasText(sField)) {
                 searchSourceBuilder.noFields();
             } else {
                 String[] sFields = fieldsPattern.split(sField);