diff --git a/ddclient.in b/ddclient.in
index 453d810..c9bb379 100755
--- a/ddclient.in
+++ b/ddclient.in
@@ -4174,12 +4174,7 @@ sub nic_dnsexit2_update {
 
     # The DNSExit API does not support updating multiple hosts at a time.
     for my $h (@_) {
-        if (not defined $config{$h}{'zone'}) {
-            debug("Zone not defined, setting to default hostname: %s", $h);
-            $config{$h}{'zone'} = $h
-        } else {
-            debug("Zone is: %s", $config{$h}{'zone'});
-        }
+        $config{$h}{'zone'} //= $h;
         # The IPv4 and IPv6 addresses must be updated together in a single API call.
         my %ips;
         my @updates;