public String representVariable() {

		Object variable = getVariable();

		if (variable == null) {

			return "null";

		}

		if (variable instanceof Character) {

			char character = (Character) variable;

			if (character == 0) {

				// yield null for the \u0000 character to avoid erroneous
				// representations in some environments
				return "null";

			}

		}

		return variable.toString();

	}