diff --git a/tools/h5ls/h5ls.c b/tools/h5ls/h5ls.c
index d3c30ab627..da0bca1a5a 100644
--- a/tools/h5ls/h5ls.c
+++ b/tools/h5ls/h5ls.c
@@ -1320,86 +1320,101 @@ list_attr (hid_t obj, const char *attr_name, void UNUSED *op_data)
     hsize_t     temp_need;
     void *buf;
     h5dump_t info;
+    H5S_class_t space_type;
 
     printf("    Attribute: ");
     n = display_string(stdout, attr_name, TRUE);
     printf("%*s", MAX(0, 9-n), "");
+
     if ((attr = H5Aopen_name(obj, attr_name))) {
- space = H5Aget_space(attr);
- type = H5Aget_type(attr);
+         space = H5Aget_space(attr);
+         type = H5Aget_type(attr);
 
- /* Data space */
- ndims = H5Sget_simple_extent_dims(space, size, NULL);
- if (0==ndims) {
-     puts(" scalar");
- } else {
-     printf(" {");
-     for (i=0; i<ndims; i++) {
-  HDfprintf(stdout, "%s%Hu", i?", ":"", size[i]);
-  nelmts *= size[i];
-     }
-     puts("}");
- }
+         /* Data space */
+         ndims = H5Sget_simple_extent_dims(space, size, NULL);
+         space_type = H5Sget_simple_extent_type(space);
+         switch (space_type) {
+            case H5S_SCALAR:
+                /* scalar dataspace */
+                puts(" scalar");
+                break;
+            case H5S_SIMPLE:
+                /* simple dataspace */
+                printf(" {");
+                for (i=0; i<ndims; i++) {
+                    HDfprintf(stdout, "%s%Hu", i?", ":"", size[i]);
+                    nelmts *= size[i];
+                }
+                puts("}");
+                break;
+            case H5S_NULL:
+                /* null dataspace */
+                puts(" null");
+                break;
+         }
 
- /* Data type */
- printf("        Type:      ");
- display_type(type, 15);
- putchar('\n');
+         /* Data type */
+         printf("        Type:      ");
+         display_type(type, 15);
+         putchar('\n');
 
- /* Data */
- memset(&info, 0, sizeof info);
- info.line_multi_new = 1;
- if (nelmts<5) {
-     info.idx_fmt = "";
-     info.line_1st  = "        Data:  ";
-     info.line_pre  = "               ";
-     info.line_cont = "                ";
-     info.str_repeat = 8;
-     
- } else {
-     printf("        Data:\n");
-     info.idx_fmt = "(%s)";
-     info.line_pre  = "            %s ";
-     info.line_cont = "            %s  ";
-     info.str_repeat = 8;
- }
- info.line_ncols = width_g;
- if (label_g) info.cmpd_name = "%s=";
- if (string_g && 1==H5Tget_size(type) &&
-     H5T_INTEGER==H5Tget_class(type)) {
-     info.ascii = TRUE;
-     info.elmt_suf1 = "";
-     info.elmt_suf2 = "";
-     info.idx_fmt  = "(%s)";
-     info.line_pre = "            %s \"";
-     info.line_suf = "\"";
- }
- /* values of type reference */
- info.obj_format = "-%lu:"H5_PRINTF_HADDR_FMT;
- info.obj_hidefileno = 0;
- if (hexdump_g) {
-     p_type = H5Tcopy(type);
- } else {
-     p_type = H5Tget_native_type(type,H5T_DIR_DEFAULT);
- }
- if (p_type>=0) {
-            temp_need= nelmts * MAX(H5Tget_size(type), H5Tget_size(p_type));
-            assert(temp_need==(hsize_t)((size_t)temp_need));
-            need = (size_t)temp_need;
-     buf = malloc(need);
-     assert(buf);
-     if (H5Aread(attr, p_type, buf)>=0) {
-  h5tools_dump_mem(stdout, &info, attr, p_type, space, buf, -1);
-     }
-     free(buf);
-     H5Tclose(p_type); 
- }
-     
- H5Sclose(space);
- H5Tclose(type);
- H5Aclose(attr);
+         /* Data */
+         memset(&info, 0, sizeof info);
+         info.line_multi_new = 1;
+         if (nelmts<5) {
+             info.idx_fmt = "";
+             info.line_1st  = "        Data:  ";
+             info.line_pre  = "               ";
+             info.line_cont = "                ";
+             info.str_repeat = 8;
+             
+         } else {
+             printf("        Data:\n");
+             info.idx_fmt = "(%s)";
+             info.line_pre  = "            %s ";
+             info.line_cont = "            %s  ";
+             info.str_repeat = 8;
+         }
+         
+         info.line_ncols = width_g;
+         if (label_g) info.cmpd_name = "%s=";
+         if (string_g && 1==H5Tget_size(type) &&
+             H5T_INTEGER==H5Tget_class(type)) {
+             info.ascii = TRUE;
+             info.elmt_suf1 = "";
+             info.elmt_suf2 = "";
+             info.idx_fmt  = "(%s)";
+             info.line_pre = "            %s \"";
+             info.line_suf = "\"";
+         }
+         
+         /* values of type reference */
+         info.obj_format = "-%lu:"H5_PRINTF_HADDR_FMT;
+         info.obj_hidefileno = 0;
+         if (hexdump_g) {
+             p_type = H5Tcopy(type);
+         } else {
+             p_type = H5Tget_native_type(type,H5T_DIR_DEFAULT);
+         }
+         
+         if (p_type>=0) {
+                    temp_need= nelmts * MAX(H5Tget_size(type), H5Tget_size(p_type));
+                    assert(temp_need==(hsize_t)((size_t)temp_need));
+                    need = (size_t)temp_need;
+             buf = malloc(need);
+             assert(buf);
+             if (H5Aread(attr, p_type, buf)>=0) {
+                h5tools_dump_mem(stdout, &info, attr, p_type, space, buf, -1);
+             }
+             free(buf);
+             H5Tclose(p_type); 
+         }
+             
+         H5Sclose(space);
+         H5Tclose(type);
+         H5Aclose(attr);
     } else {
- putchar('\n');
+         putchar('\n');
     }
     
     return 0;
@@ -1430,13 +1445,15 @@ dataset_list1(hid_t dset)
 {
     hsize_t     cur_size[64];   /* current dataset dimensions */
     hsize_t     max_size[64];   /* maximum dataset dimensions */
-    hid_t       space;          /* data space */
-    int         ndims;          /* dimensionality */
+    hid_t       space;          /* data space                 */
+    int         ndims;          /* dimensionality             */
+    H5S_class_t space_type;     /* type of dataspace          */
     int   i;
 
     /* Information that goes on the same row as the name.  The name has
      * already been printed. */
     space = H5Dget_space(dset);
+    space_type = H5Sget_simple_extent_type(space);
     ndims = H5Sget_simple_extent_dims(space, cur_size, max_size);
     printf (" {");
     for (i=0; i<ndims; i++) {
@@ -1447,7 +1464,8 @@ dataset_list1(hid_t dset)
      HDfprintf(stdout, "/%Hu", max_size[i]);
  }
     }
-    if (0==ndims) printf("SCALAR");
+    if (space_type==H5S_SCALAR) printf("SCALAR");
+    else if (space_type==H5S_NULL) printf("NULL");
     putchar('}');
     H5Sclose (space);
 
diff --git a/tools/lib/h5tools.c b/tools/lib/h5tools.c
index 3a5b68a7ab..6941c433f3 100644
--- a/tools/lib/h5tools.c
+++ b/tools/lib/h5tools.c
@@ -1098,6 +1098,7 @@ h5tools_dump_dset(FILE *stream, const h5dump_t *info, hid_t dset, hid_t _p_type,
     hid_t     f_space;
     hid_t     p_type = _p_type;
     hid_t     f_type;
+    H5S_class_t space_type;
     int       status = FAIL;
     h5dump_t  info_dflt;
 
@@ -1127,15 +1128,18 @@ h5tools_dump_dset(FILE *stream, const h5dump_t *info, hid_t dset, hid_t _p_type,
     /* Check the data space */
     f_space = H5Dget_space(dset);
 
+    space_type = H5Sget_simple_extent_type(f_space);
+
     /* Print the data */
-    if (H5Sis_simple(f_space) > 0) {
+    if (space_type == H5S_SIMPLE || space_type == H5S_SCALAR) {
         if (!sset)
             status = h5tools_dump_simple_dset(rawdatastream, info, dset, p_type,
                                               indentlevel);
         else
             status = h5tools_dump_simple_subset(rawdatastream, info, dset, p_type,
                                                 sset, indentlevel);
-    }
+    } else /* space is H5S_NULL */
+        status = SUCCEED;
 
     /* Close the dataspace */
     H5Sclose(f_space);
diff --git a/tools/lib/h5tools.h b/tools/lib/h5tools.h
index 143685f66a..ce4b6f6fdf 100644
--- a/tools/lib/h5tools.h
+++ b/tools/lib/h5tools.h
@@ -455,8 +455,9 @@ extern FILE   *rawdatastream;       /*output stream for raw data            */
 #define NLINK           "NLINK"
 #define OBJID           "OBJECTID"
 #define OBJNO           "OBJNO"
-#define SCALAR          "SCALAR"
-#define SIMPLE          "SIMPLE"
+#define S_SCALAR        "SCALAR"
+#define S_SIMPLE        "SIMPLE"
+#define S_NULL          "NULL"
 #define SOFTLINK        "SOFTLINK"
 #define STORAGELAYOUT   "STORAGELAYOUT"
 #define START           "START"
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tall-2A.h5.xml b/tools/testfiles/tall-2A.h5.xml
index 8f2853d93e..dfa5c9794d 100644
--- a/tools/testfiles/tall-2A.h5.xml
+++ b/tools/testfiles/tall-2A.h5.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml -A tall.h5'
 #############################
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <hdf5:HDF5-File xmlns:hdf5="http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5-File" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5File http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5-File.xsd">
-<hdf5:RootGroup OBJ-XID="xid_696" H5Path="/">
+<hdf5:RootGroup OBJ-XID="xid_928" H5Path="/">
    <hdf5:Attribute Name="attr1">
       <hdf5:Dataspace>
          <hdf5:SimpleDataspace Ndims="1">
@@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml -A tall.h5'
          </hdf5:DataFromFile>
       </hdf5:Data>
    </hdf5:Attribute>
-   <hdf5:Group Name="g1" OBJ-XID="xid_1344" H5Path="/g1" Parents="xid_696" H5ParentPaths="/" >
-      <hdf5:Group Name="g1.1" OBJ-XID="xid_2968" H5Path="/g1/g1.1" Parents="xid_1344" H5ParentPaths="/g1" >
-         <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1.1.1" OBJ-XID="xid_4968" H5Path= "/g1/g1.1/dset1.1.1" Parents="xid_2968" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.1">
+   <hdf5:Group Name="g1" OBJ-XID="xid_1576" H5Path="/g1" Parents="xid_928" H5ParentPaths="/" >
+      <hdf5:Group Name="g1.1" OBJ-XID="xid_3200" H5Path="/g1/g1.1" Parents="xid_1576" H5ParentPaths="/g1" >
+         <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1.1.1" OBJ-XID="xid_5200" H5Path= "/g1/g1.1/dset1.1.1" Parents="xid_3200" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.1">
             <hdf5:StorageLayout>
                <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
             </hdf5:StorageLayout>
@@ -99,10 +99,10 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml -A tall.h5'
                </hdf5:Data>
             </hdf5:Attribute>
          <hdf5:Data>
-         <hdf5:NoData/>
+            <hdf5:NoData/>
          </hdf5:Data>
          </hdf5:Dataset>
-         <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1.1.2" OBJ-XID="xid_5968" H5Path= "/g1/g1.1/dset1.1.2" Parents="xid_2968" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.1">
+         <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1.1.2" OBJ-XID="xid_5800" H5Path= "/g1/g1.1/dset1.1.2" Parents="xid_3200" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.1">
             <hdf5:StorageLayout>
                <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
             </hdf5:StorageLayout>
@@ -122,18 +122,18 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml -A tall.h5'
                </hdf5:AtomicType>
             </hdf5:DataType>
          <hdf5:Data>
-         <hdf5:NoData/>
+            <hdf5:NoData/>
          </hdf5:Data>
          </hdf5:Dataset>
       </hdf5:Group>
-      <hdf5:Group Name="g1.2" OBJ-XID="xid_3944" H5Path="/g1/g1.2" Parents="xid_1344" H5ParentPaths="/g1" >
-         <hdf5:Group Name="g1.2.1" OBJ-XID="xid_4592" H5Path="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1" Parents="xid_3944" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.2" >
-            <hdf5:SoftLink LinkName="slink" OBJ-XID="xid_18446744073709551614" H5SourcePath="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1/slink" TargetPath="somevalue"  Parents="xid_4592" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1" />
+      <hdf5:Group Name="g1.2" OBJ-XID="xid_4176" H5Path="/g1/g1.2" Parents="xid_1576" H5ParentPaths="/g1" >
+         <hdf5:Group Name="g1.2.1" OBJ-XID="xid_4824" H5Path="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1" Parents="xid_4176" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.2" >
+            <hdf5:SoftLink LinkName="slink" OBJ-XID="xid_18446744073709551614" H5SourcePath="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1/slink" TargetPath="somevalue"  Parents="xid_4824" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1" />
          </hdf5:Group>
       </hdf5:Group>
    </hdf5:Group>
-   <hdf5:Group Name="g2" OBJ-XID="xid_2320" H5Path="/g2" Parents="xid_696" H5ParentPaths="/" >
-      <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2.1" OBJ-XID="xid_6648" H5Path= "/g2/dset2.1" Parents="xid_2320" H5ParentPaths="/g2">
+   <hdf5:Group Name="g2" OBJ-XID="xid_2552" H5Path="/g2" Parents="xid_928" H5ParentPaths="/" >
+      <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2.1" OBJ-XID="xid_8520" H5Path= "/g2/dset2.1" Parents="xid_2552" H5ParentPaths="/g2">
          <hdf5:StorageLayout>
             <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
          </hdf5:StorageLayout>
@@ -153,10 +153,10 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml -A tall.h5'
             </hdf5:AtomicType>
          </hdf5:DataType>
       <hdf5:Data>
-      <hdf5:NoData/>
+         <hdf5:NoData/>
       </hdf5:Data>
       </hdf5:Dataset>
-      <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2.2" OBJ-XID="xid_7288" H5Path= "/g2/dset2.2" Parents="xid_2320" H5ParentPaths="/g2">
+      <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2.2" OBJ-XID="xid_9120" H5Path= "/g2/dset2.2" Parents="xid_2552" H5ParentPaths="/g2">
          <hdf5:StorageLayout>
             <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
          </hdf5:StorageLayout>
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml -A tall.h5'
             </hdf5:AtomicType>
          </hdf5:DataType>
       <hdf5:Data>
-      <hdf5:NoData/>
+         <hdf5:NoData/>
       </hdf5:Data>
       </hdf5:Dataset>
    </hdf5:Group>
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tall.h5 b/tools/testfiles/tall.h5
index 82529d3e6c..2bc4993576 100644
Binary files a/tools/testfiles/tall.h5 and b/tools/testfiles/tall.h5 differ
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tall.h5.xml b/tools/testfiles/tall.h5.xml
index dc31aaddd8..22e6f51fa0 100644
--- a/tools/testfiles/tall.h5.xml
+++ b/tools/testfiles/tall.h5.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tall.h5'
 #############################
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <hdf5:HDF5-File xmlns:hdf5="http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5-File" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5File http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5-File.xsd">
-<hdf5:RootGroup OBJ-XID="xid_696" H5Path="/">
+<hdf5:RootGroup OBJ-XID="xid_928" H5Path="/">
    <hdf5:Attribute Name="attr1">
       <hdf5:Dataspace>
          <hdf5:SimpleDataspace Ndims="1">
@@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tall.h5'
          </hdf5:DataFromFile>
       </hdf5:Data>
    </hdf5:Attribute>
-   <hdf5:Group Name="g1" OBJ-XID="xid_1344" H5Path="/g1" Parents="xid_696" H5ParentPaths="/" >
-      <hdf5:Group Name="g1.1" OBJ-XID="xid_2968" H5Path="/g1/g1.1" Parents="xid_1344" H5ParentPaths="/g1" >
-         <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1.1.1" OBJ-XID="xid_4968" H5Path= "/g1/g1.1/dset1.1.1" Parents="xid_2968" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.1">
+   <hdf5:Group Name="g1" OBJ-XID="xid_1576" H5Path="/g1" Parents="xid_928" H5ParentPaths="/" >
+      <hdf5:Group Name="g1.1" OBJ-XID="xid_3200" H5Path="/g1/g1.1" Parents="xid_1576" H5ParentPaths="/g1" >
+         <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1.1.1" OBJ-XID="xid_5200" H5Path= "/g1/g1.1/dset1.1.1" Parents="xid_3200" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.1">
             <hdf5:StorageLayout>
                <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
             </hdf5:StorageLayout>
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tall.h5'
                </hdf5:DataFromFile>
             </hdf5:Data>
          </hdf5:Dataset>
-         <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1.1.2" OBJ-XID="xid_5968" H5Path= "/g1/g1.1/dset1.1.2" Parents="xid_2968" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.1">
+         <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1.1.2" OBJ-XID="xid_5800" H5Path= "/g1/g1.1/dset1.1.2" Parents="xid_3200" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.1">
             <hdf5:StorageLayout>
                <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
             </hdf5:StorageLayout>
@@ -139,14 +139,14 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tall.h5'
             </hdf5:Data>
          </hdf5:Dataset>
       </hdf5:Group>
-      <hdf5:Group Name="g1.2" OBJ-XID="xid_3944" H5Path="/g1/g1.2" Parents="xid_1344" H5ParentPaths="/g1" >
-         <hdf5:Group Name="g1.2.1" OBJ-XID="xid_4592" H5Path="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1" Parents="xid_3944" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.2" >
-            <hdf5:SoftLink LinkName="slink" OBJ-XID="xid_18446744073709551614" H5SourcePath="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1/slink" TargetPath="somevalue"  Parents="xid_4592" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1" />
+      <hdf5:Group Name="g1.2" OBJ-XID="xid_4176" H5Path="/g1/g1.2" Parents="xid_1576" H5ParentPaths="/g1" >
+         <hdf5:Group Name="g1.2.1" OBJ-XID="xid_4824" H5Path="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1" Parents="xid_4176" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.2" >
+            <hdf5:SoftLink LinkName="slink" OBJ-XID="xid_18446744073709551614" H5SourcePath="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1/slink" TargetPath="somevalue"  Parents="xid_4824" H5ParentPaths="/g1/g1.2/g1.2.1" />
          </hdf5:Group>
       </hdf5:Group>
    </hdf5:Group>
-   <hdf5:Group Name="g2" OBJ-XID="xid_2320" H5Path="/g2" Parents="xid_696" H5ParentPaths="/" >
-      <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2.1" OBJ-XID="xid_6648" H5Path= "/g2/dset2.1" Parents="xid_2320" H5ParentPaths="/g2">
+   <hdf5:Group Name="g2" OBJ-XID="xid_2552" H5Path="/g2" Parents="xid_928" H5ParentPaths="/" >
+      <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2.1" OBJ-XID="xid_8520" H5Path= "/g2/dset2.1" Parents="xid_2552" H5ParentPaths="/g2">
          <hdf5:StorageLayout>
             <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
          </hdf5:StorageLayout>
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tall.h5'
             </hdf5:DataFromFile>
          </hdf5:Data>
       </hdf5:Dataset>
-      <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2.2" OBJ-XID="xid_7288" H5Path= "/g2/dset2.2" Parents="xid_2320" H5ParentPaths="/g2">
+      <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2.2" OBJ-XID="xid_9120" H5Path= "/g2/dset2.2" Parents="xid_2552" H5ParentPaths="/g2">
          <hdf5:StorageLayout>
             <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
          </hdf5:StorageLayout>
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tattr-1.ddl b/tools/testfiles/tattr-1.ddl
index b5b8afe9f5..ad473af93c 100644
--- a/tools/testfiles/tattr-1.ddl
+++ b/tools/testfiles/tattr-1.ddl
@@ -44,5 +44,11 @@ GROUP "/" {
          "string attribute"
       }
    }
+   ATTRIBUTE "attr6" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_STD_U32LE
+      DATASPACE  NULL
+      DATA {
+      }
+   }
 }
 }
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tattr.h5 b/tools/testfiles/tattr.h5
index 2c7e60a71d..4314cdf17c 100644
Binary files a/tools/testfiles/tattr.h5 and b/tools/testfiles/tattr.h5 differ
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tattr.h5.xml b/tools/testfiles/tattr.h5.xml
index 0fe76420d2..0fbb8330ff 100644
--- a/tools/testfiles/tattr.h5.xml
+++ b/tools/testfiles/tattr.h5.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tattr.h5'
 #############################
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <hdf5:HDF5-File xmlns:hdf5="http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5-File" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5File http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5-File.xsd">
-<hdf5:RootGroup OBJ-XID="xid_696" H5Path="/">
+<hdf5:RootGroup OBJ-XID="xid_928" H5Path="/">
    <hdf5:Attribute Name="attr1">
       <hdf5:Dataspace>
          <hdf5:SimpleDataspace Ndims="1">
@@ -86,5 +86,20 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tattr.h5'
          </hdf5:DataFromFile>
       </hdf5:Data>
    </hdf5:Attribute>
+   <hdf5:Attribute Name="attr6">
+      <hdf5:Dataspace>
+         <hdf5:NullDataspace />
+      </hdf5:Dataspace>
+      <hdf5:DataType>
+         <hdf5:AtomicType>
+            <hdf5:IntegerType ByteOrder="LE" Sign="false" Size="4" />
+         </hdf5:AtomicType>
+      </hdf5:DataType>
+      <hdf5:Data>
+         <hdf5:DataFromFile>
+            <hdf5:NoData/>
+         </hdf5:DataFromFile>
+      </hdf5:Data>
+   </hdf5:Attribute>
 </hdf5:RootGroup>
 </hdf5:HDF5-File>
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tdset-1.ddl b/tools/testfiles/tdset-1.ddl
index cbec6aae20..68dc8a8be0 100644
--- a/tools/testfiles/tdset-1.ddl
+++ b/tools/testfiles/tdset-1.ddl
@@ -122,5 +122,11 @@ GROUP "/" {
          29.0016, 29.0017, 29.0018, 29.0019
       }
    }
+   DATASET "dset3" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_STD_I32BE
+      DATASPACE  NULL
+      DATA {
+      }
+   }
 }
 }
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tdset-1.ls b/tools/testfiles/tdset-1.ls
index 68534298c3..dad8ef698f 100644
--- a/tools/testfiles/tdset-1.ls
+++ b/tools/testfiles/tdset-1.ls
@@ -99,3 +99,5 @@
         (28,19) 28.0019, 29, 29.0001, 29.0002, 29.0003, 29.0004, 29.0005,
         (29,6) 29.0006, 29.0007, 29.0008, 29.0009, 29.001, 29.0011, 29.0012,
         (29,13) 29.0013, 29.0014, 29.0015, 29.0016, 29.0017, 29.0018, 29.0019
+/dset3                   Dataset {NULL}
+    Data:
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tdset-2.ddl b/tools/testfiles/tdset-2.ddl
index 93c961c13d..0ddcb334c4 100644
--- a/tools/testfiles/tdset-2.ddl
+++ b/tools/testfiles/tdset-2.ddl
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #############################
-Expected output for 'h5dump -H -d dset1 -d /dset2 --dataset=dset3 tdset.h5'
+Expected output for 'h5dump -H -d dset1 -d /dset2 -d dset3 --dataset=dset4 tdset.h5'
 #############################
 HDF5 "tdset.h5" {
 DATASET "dset1" {
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ DATASET "/dset2" {
    DATASPACE  SIMPLE { ( 30, 20 ) / ( 30, 20 ) }
 }
 DATASET "dset3" {
+   DATATYPE  H5T_STD_I32BE
+   DATASPACE  NULL
+}
+DATASET "dset4" {
    }
 }
-h5dump error: unable to open dataset "dset3"
+h5dump error: unable to open dataset "dset4"
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tdset.h5 b/tools/testfiles/tdset.h5
index 9c6815e619..c3b7c9c1c4 100644
Binary files a/tools/testfiles/tdset.h5 and b/tools/testfiles/tdset.h5 differ
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tdset.h5.xml b/tools/testfiles/tdset.h5.xml
index 7781d1d64c..2af4a8c3a8 100644
--- a/tools/testfiles/tdset.h5.xml
+++ b/tools/testfiles/tdset.h5.xml
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tdset.h5'
 #############################
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <hdf5:HDF5-File xmlns:hdf5="http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5-File" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5File http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/DTDs/HDF5-File.xsd">
-<hdf5:RootGroup OBJ-XID="xid_696" H5Path="/">
-   <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1" OBJ-XID="xid_744" H5Path= "/dset1" Parents="xid_696" H5ParentPaths="/">
+<hdf5:RootGroup OBJ-XID="xid_928" H5Path="/">
+   <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset1" OBJ-XID="xid_976" H5Path= "/dset1" Parents="xid_928" H5ParentPaths="/">
       <hdf5:StorageLayout>
          <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
       </hdf5:StorageLayout>
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tdset.h5'
          </hdf5:DataFromFile>
       </hdf5:Data>
    </hdf5:Dataset>
-   <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2" OBJ-XID="xid_1984" H5Path= "/dset2" Parents="xid_696" H5ParentPaths="/">
+   <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset2" OBJ-XID="xid_1576" H5Path= "/dset2" Parents="xid_928" H5ParentPaths="/">
       <hdf5:StorageLayout>
          <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
       </hdf5:StorageLayout>
@@ -144,5 +144,26 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tdset.h5'
          </hdf5:DataFromFile>
       </hdf5:Data>
    </hdf5:Dataset>
+   <hdf5:Dataset Name="dset3" OBJ-XID="xid_8896" H5Path= "/dset3" Parents="xid_928" H5ParentPaths="/">
+      <hdf5:StorageLayout>
+         <hdf5:ContiguousLayout/>
+      </hdf5:StorageLayout>
+         <hdf5:FillValueInfo FillTime="FillIfSet" AllocationTime="Late">
+         <hdf5:FillValue>
+               <hdf5:NoFill/>
+         </hdf5:FillValue>
+      </hdf5:FillValueInfo>
+      <hdf5:Dataspace>
+         <hdf5:NullDataspace />
+      </hdf5:Dataspace>
+      <hdf5:DataType>
+         <hdf5:AtomicType>
+            <hdf5:IntegerType ByteOrder="BE" Sign="true" Size="4" />
+         </hdf5:AtomicType>
+      </hdf5:DataType>
+   <hdf5:Data>
+      <hdf5:NoData/>
+   </hdf5:Data>
+   </hdf5:Dataset>
 </hdf5:RootGroup>
 </hdf5:HDF5-File>
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tnamed_dtype_attr.h5 b/tools/testfiles/tnamed_dtype_attr.h5
index 4e136e50b2..cb40ddcb5c 100644
Binary files a/tools/testfiles/tnamed_dtype_attr.h5 and b/tools/testfiles/tnamed_dtype_attr.h5 differ
diff --git a/tools/testfiles/tnamed_dtype_attr.h5.xml b/tools/testfiles/tnamed_dtype_attr.h5.xml
index 38700db9a9..329d3ac769 100644
--- a/tools/testfiles/tnamed_dtype_attr.h5.xml
+++ b/tools/testfiles/tnamed_dtype_attr.h5.xml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Expected output for 'h5dump --xml tnamed_dtype_attr.h5'
          </hdf5:Data>
       </hdf5:Attribute>
    <hdf5:Data>
-   <hdf5:NoData/>
+      <hdf5:NoData/>
    </hdf5:Data>
    </hdf5:Dataset>
 </hdf5:RootGroup>