diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c
index fa88c87494..92cdd2cbe3 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c
@@ -5188,7 +5188,16 @@ PQhost(const PGconn *conn)
 {
 	if (!conn)
 		return NULL;
-	return conn->pghost ? conn->pghost : conn->pgunixsocket;
+	if (conn->pghost != NULL && conn->pghost[0] != '\0')
+		return conn->pghost;
+	else
+	{
+#ifdef HAVE_UNIX_SOCKETS
+		return conn->pgunixsocket;
+#else
+		return DefaultHost;
+#endif
+	}
 }
 
 char *