diff --git a/sopel/modules/find.py b/sopel/modules/find.py
index a639e0e237..647c4ac068 100644
--- a/sopel/modules/find.py
+++ b/sopel/modules/find.py
@@ -163,10 +163,14 @@ def findandreplace(bot, trigger):
 
     sep = trigger.group('sep')
     old = trigger.group('old').replace('\\%s' % sep, sep)
-    new = bold(trigger.group('new')).replace('\\%s' % sep, sep)
+    new = trigger.group('new')
     me = False  # /me command
     flags = trigger.group('flags') or ''
 
+    # only clean/format the new string if it's non-empty
+    if new:
+        new = bold(new.replace('\\%s' % sep, sep))
+
     # If g flag is given, replace all. Otherwise, replace once.
     if 'g' in flags:
         count = -1