Field not rewritten even though "Hide rewriting if empty" not selected Simplified situation:


A view includes fields first_name and last_name.
first_name is marked "Exclude from display".
last_name has the label Full name (which becomes the column heading in the view).
last_name has "Rewrite the output of this field" checked and the rewrite text [first_name](space)[last_name].
last_name has neither "Hide if empty" nor "Hide rewriting if empty" checked in "No Results Behavior".
Records with both first_name and last_name or only last_name show properly in the Full name column.
Records with only first_name (i.e. empty last_name) show nothing.


Seems Drupal should rewrite the field for records with no last_name to show first_name since there is a specific "Hide rewriting if empty" checkbox that is not checked. Is this expected behavior? Or might there be a module interfering with things?
Although I don't understand why Drupal doesn't behave as I posit in my original question, I have found a solution. It is to use [first_name] as the No results text. If the last name is empty, the no results text is used, and the first name is displayed. If the last name is non-empty, the rewrite results are used, and the first and last names are displayed. Kind of roundabout, but it works.