diff --git a/src/vs/editor/contrib/snippet/browser/snippetParser.ts b/src/vs/editor/contrib/snippet/browser/snippetParser.ts
index df29adf911b0189c0b382631b636132b346db365..db06494d4a87da153961a32398211e35d207aab4 100644
--- a/src/vs/editor/contrib/snippet/browser/snippetParser.ts
+++ b/src/vs/editor/contrib/snippet/browser/snippetParser.ts
@@ -346,20 +346,19 @@ export class FormatString extends Marker {
 	}
 
 	resolve(value: string): string {
-		if (value) {
-			if (this.shorthandName === 'upcase') {
-				return value.toLocaleUpperCase();
-			} else if (this.shorthandName === 'downcase') {
-				return value.toLocaleLowerCase();
-			} else if (this.shorthandName === 'capitalize') {
-				return value[0].toLocaleUpperCase() + value.substr(1);
-			} else if (Boolean(value) && typeof this.ifValue === 'string') {
-				return this.ifValue;
-			} else if (!Boolean(value) && typeof this.elseValue === 'string') {
-				return this.elseValue;
-			}
+		if (this.shorthandName === 'upcase') {
+			return !value ? '' : value.toLocaleUpperCase();
+		} else if (this.shorthandName === 'downcase') {
+			return !value ? '' : value.toLocaleLowerCase();
+		} else if (this.shorthandName === 'capitalize') {
+			return !value ? '' : (value[0].toLocaleUpperCase() + value.substr(1));
+		} else if (Boolean(value) && typeof this.ifValue === 'string') {
+			return this.ifValue;
+		} else if (!Boolean(value) && typeof this.elseValue === 'string') {
+			return this.elseValue;
+		} else {
+			return value || '';
 		}
-		return value || '';
 	}
 
 	toTextmateString(): string {