diff --git a/tes/sshwrapper/__init__.py b/tes/sshwrapper/__init__.py
index 0a6c6e62e4589d8073ece219f0fb217e6efc383f..e6ed2389fb77a4b2dc9b997d9f1d5482e851a5dc 100644
--- a/tes/sshwrapper/__init__.py
+++ b/tes/sshwrapper/__init__.py
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ class Ssh:
         return
 
     @staticmethod
-    def sftpls(sess, host, user, sshport, path="",changepath="."):
+    def sftpls(sess, host, user, sshport, path=".",changepath="."):
         """
         Use sftp to run an ls on the given path.
         Return the directory listing (as a list) and the cwd
@@ -200,6 +200,10 @@ class Ssh:
         Ssh.validate_username(user)
         Ssh.validate_hostname(host)
         ctrlsocket = Ssh.get_ctrl_master_socket(sess, host, user, sshport)
+        if (path is None or path == ""):
+            path="."
+        if (changepath is None or changepath == ""):
+            changepath="."
         exec_p = subprocess.Popen(['sftp', '-b', '-','-o', 'Stricthostkeychecking=no',
                                    '-P', sshport, '-o', 'ControlPath={}'.format(ctrlsocket),
                                    '{}@{}'.format(user, host)],