diff --git a/FHEM/98_GEOFANCY.pm b/FHEM/98_GEOFANCY.pm
index 64e2ce069..0d0047fc5 100755
--- a/FHEM/98_GEOFANCY.pm
+++ b/FHEM/98_GEOFANCY.pm
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ m/(19|20)\d\d-(0[1-9]|1[0-2])-(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])T([0-2][0-3]):([0-5][0-9])
     readingsBeginUpdate($hash);
 
     # validate date
-    if ( $date != "" ) {
+    if ( $date ne "" ) {
         $hash->{".updateTime"}      = GEOFANCY_ISO8601UTCtoLocal($date);
         $hash->{".updateTimestamp"} = FmtDateTime( $hash->{".updateTime"} );
         $time                       = $hash->{".updateTimestamp"};