diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/java/org/apache/asterix/test/external_dataset/aws/AwsS3ExternalDatasetTest.java b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/java/org/apache/asterix/test/external_dataset/aws/AwsS3ExternalDatasetTest.java
index 532da56..7892a17 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/java/org/apache/asterix/test/external_dataset/aws/AwsS3ExternalDatasetTest.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/java/org/apache/asterix/test/external_dataset/aws/AwsS3ExternalDatasetTest.java
@@ -481,10 +481,13 @@
                     String lastLine = lines[lines.length - 1];
                     String[] command = lastLine.trim().split(" ");
                     int length = command.length;
-                    if (length != 3) {
+                    if (length == 1) {
+                        createBucket(command[0]);
+                    } else if (length == 3) {
+                        dropRecreateBucket(command[0], command[1], command[2]);
+                    } else {
                         throw new Exception("invalid create bucket format");
                     }
-                    dropRecreateBucket(command[0], command[1], command[2]);
                     break;
                 default:
                     super.executeTestFile(testCaseCtx, ctx, variableCtx, statement, isDmlRecoveryTest, pb, cUnit,
@@ -493,10 +496,7 @@
         }
     }
 
-    private static void dropRecreateBucket(String bucketName, String definition, String files) {
-        String definitionPath = definition + (definition.endsWith("/") ? "" : "/");
-        String[] fileSplits = files.split(",");
-
+    private static void createBucket(String bucketName) {
         LOGGER.info("Dropping bucket " + bucketName);
         try {
             client.deleteBucket(DELETE_BUCKET_BUILDER.bucket(bucketName).build());
@@ -505,6 +505,12 @@
         }
         LOGGER.info("Creating bucket " + bucketName);
         client.createBucket(CREATE_BUCKET_BUILDER.bucket(bucketName).build());
+    }
+
+    private static void dropRecreateBucket(String bucketName, String definition, String files) {
+        String definitionPath = definition + (definition.endsWith("/") ? "" : "/");
+        String[] fileSplits = files.split(",");
+        createBucket(bucketName);
         LOGGER.info("Uploading to bucket " + bucketName + " definition " + definitionPath);
         fileNames.clear();
         for (int i = 0; i < fileSplits.length; i++) {
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.01.container.sqlpp b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.01.container.sqlpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..664822e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.01.container.sqlpp
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+// create empty bucket
+empty-bucket1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.02.container.sqlpp b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.02.container.sqlpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb92908
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.02.container.sqlpp
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+// create empty bucket
+empty-bucket2
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.03.ddl.sqlpp b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.03.ddl.sqlpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b68c38b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.03.ddl.sqlpp
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+DROP DATAVERSE test IF EXISTS;
+CREATE DATAVERSE test;
+
+USE test;
+
+CREATE TYPE OpenType AS {
+};
+
+CREATE EXTERNAL DATASET Customer(OpenType) USING S3 (
+    ("accessKeyId"="dummyAccessKey"),
+    ("secretAccessKey"="dummySecretKey"),
+    ("region"="us-west-2"),
+    ("serviceEndpoint"="http://127.0.0.1:8001"),
+    ("container"="playground"),
+    ("definition"="external-filter/car/{company:string}/customer/{customer_id:int}"),
+    ("embed-filter-values" = "false"),
+    ("format"="json")
+);
+
+
+
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.04.update.sqlpp b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.04.update.sqlpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ff9deb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.04.update.sqlpp
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+USE test;
+
+COPY Customer c
+TO S3
+PATH ()
+WITH {
+    "accessKeyId":"dummyAccessKey",
+    "secretAccessKey":"dummySecretKey",
+    "region":"us-west-2",
+    "serviceEndpoint":"http://127.0.0.1:8001",
+    "container":"empty-bucket1",
+    "format":"json"
+};
+
+COPY Customer c
+TO S3
+PATH ("")
+WITH {
+    "accessKeyId":"dummyAccessKey",
+    "secretAccessKey":"dummySecretKey",
+    "region":"us-west-2",
+    "serviceEndpoint":"http://127.0.0.1:8001",
+    "container":"empty-bucket2",
+    "format":"json"
+};
+
+
+
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.05.ddl.sqlpp b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.05.ddl.sqlpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54bad2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.05.ddl.sqlpp
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+USE test;
+
+CREATE EXTERNAL DATASET CustomerCopy1(OpenType) USING S3 (
+    ("accessKeyId"="dummyAccessKey"),
+    ("secretAccessKey"="dummySecretKey"),
+    ("region"="us-west-2"),
+    ("serviceEndpoint"="http://127.0.0.1:8001"),
+    ("container"="empty-bucket1"),
+    ("embed-filter-values" = "false"),
+    ("format"="json")
+);
+
+CREATE EXTERNAL DATASET CustomerCopy2(OpenType) USING S3 (
+    ("accessKeyId"="dummyAccessKey"),
+    ("secretAccessKey"="dummySecretKey"),
+    ("region"="us-west-2"),
+    ("serviceEndpoint"="http://127.0.0.1:8001"),
+    ("container"="empty-bucket2"),
+    ("embed-filter-values" = "false"),
+    ("format"="json")
+);
+
+
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.06.query.sqlpp b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.06.query.sqlpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..368265a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.06.query.sqlpp
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+USE test;
+
+SELECT (SELECT VALUE COUNT(*) FROM CustomerCopy1)[0] c1,
+       (SELECT VALUE COUNT(*) FROM CustomerCopy2)[0] c2
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.06.adm b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.06.adm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37a540f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/copy-to/empty-path/empty-path.06.adm
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{ "c1": 81, "c2": 81 }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite_external_dataset_s3.xml b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite_external_dataset_s3.xml
index 54ccd30..421aacd 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite_external_dataset_s3.xml
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite_external_dataset_s3.xml
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@
         <output-dir compare="Text">default-namespace</output-dir>
       </compilation-unit>
     </test-case>
+    <test-case FilePath="copy-to">
+      <compilation-unit name="empty-path">
+        <output-dir compare="Text">empty-path</output-dir>
+      </compilation-unit>
+    </test-case>
     <test-case FilePath="copy-to/negative">
       <compilation-unit name="early-missing">
         <output-dir compare="Text">early-missing</output-dir>
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/writer/DynamicPathResolver.java b/asterixdb/asterix-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/writer/DynamicPathResolver.java
index a1d2411..7105efa 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/writer/DynamicPathResolver.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/writer/DynamicPathResolver.java
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
             return ExternalWriter.UNRESOLVABLE_PATH;
         }
 
-        if (dirStringBuilder.charAt(dirStringBuilder.length() - 1) != fileSeparator) {
+        if (dirStringBuilder.length() > 0 && dirStringBuilder.charAt(dirStringBuilder.length() - 1) != fileSeparator) {
             dirStringBuilder.append(fileSeparator);
         }
         return dirStringBuilder.toString();
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/writer/StaticPathResolver.java b/asterixdb/asterix-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/writer/StaticPathResolver.java
index 4caf44f..52943ed 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/writer/StaticPathResolver.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/runtime/writer/StaticPathResolver.java
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
     StaticPathResolver(String fileExtension, char fileSeparator, int partition, String directoryPath) {
         super(fileExtension, fileSeparator, partition);
 
-        if (directoryPath.charAt(directoryPath.length() - 1) != fileSeparator) {
+        if (!directoryPath.isEmpty() && directoryPath.charAt(directoryPath.length() - 1) != fileSeparator) {
             this.directoryPath = directoryPath + fileSeparator;
         } else {
             this.directoryPath = directoryPath;