diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index e4556d8472..fd55fd0140 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+4205.	[bug]		'named-checkconf -p' could include unwanted spaces
+			when printing tuples with unset optional fields.
+			[RT #40731]
+
 4204.	[bug]		'dig +trace' failed to lookup the correct type if
 			the initial root ns query was retried. [RT #40296]
 
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/checkconf/good.conf b/bin/tests/system/checkconf/good.conf
index cf886a2427..c4320233e1 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/checkconf/good.conf
+++ b/bin/tests/system/checkconf/good.conf
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ view "second" {
 	zone "." {
 		type redirect;
 		masters {
-			1.2.3.4 ;
+			1.2.3.4;
 		};
 	};
 	dnssec-lookaside "." trust-anchor "dlv.isc.org.";
diff --git a/lib/isccfg/parser.c b/lib/isccfg/parser.c
index d4167d72d7..17b5c628c3 100644
--- a/lib/isccfg/parser.c
+++ b/lib/isccfg/parser.c
@@ -272,10 +272,11 @@ cfg_print_tuple(cfg_printer_t *pctx, const cfg_obj_t *obj) {
 
 	for (f = fields, i = 0; f->name != NULL; f++, i++) {
 		const cfg_obj_t *fieldobj = obj->value.tuple[i];
-		if (need_space)
+		if (need_space && fieldobj->type->rep != &cfg_rep_void)
 			cfg_print_cstr(pctx, " ");
 		cfg_print_obj(pctx, fieldobj);
-		need_space = ISC_TF(fieldobj->type->print != cfg_print_void);
+		need_space = ISC_TF(need_space ||
+				    fieldobj->type->print != cfg_print_void);
 	}
 }