diff --git a/lib/symboldatabase.cpp b/lib/symboldatabase.cpp
index 17f1f94b8..ad5135258 100644
--- a/lib/symboldatabase.cpp
+++ b/lib/symboldatabase.cpp
@@ -4837,6 +4837,9 @@ void SymbolDatabase::setValueType(Token *tok, const Variable &var)
         valuetype.bits = var.nameToken()->bits();
     valuetype.pointer = var.dimensions().size();
     valuetype.typeScope = var.typeScope();
+    if (var.valueType()) {
+        valuetype.container = var.valueType()->container;
+    }
     if (parsedecl(var.typeStartToken(), &valuetype, mDefaultSignedness, mSettings)) {
         if (tok->str() == "." && tok->astOperand1()) {
             const ValueType * const vt = tok->astOperand1()->valueType();
diff --git a/test/testsymboldatabase.cpp b/test/testsymboldatabase.cpp
index 4410c82d6..aeefbb9e5 100644
--- a/test/testsymboldatabase.cpp
+++ b/test/testsymboldatabase.cpp
@@ -381,6 +381,7 @@ private:
         TEST_CASE(auto9); // #8044 (segmentation fault)
         TEST_CASE(auto10); // #8020
         TEST_CASE(auto11); // #8964 - const auto startX = x;
+        TEST_CASE(auto12); // #8993 - const std::string &x; auto y = x; if (y.empty()) ..
 
         TEST_CASE(unionWithConstructor);
     }
@@ -6833,6 +6834,22 @@ private:
         ASSERT(v2tok && v2tok->variable() && !v2tok->variable()->isConst());
     }
 
+    void auto12() {
+        GET_SYMBOL_DB("void f(const std::string &x) {\n"
+                      "  auto y = x;\n"
+                      "  if (y.empty()) {}\n"
+                      "}");
+        (void)db;
+
+        const Token *tok;
+
+        tok = Token::findsimplematch(tokenizer.tokens(), "y =");
+        ASSERT(tok && tok->valueType() && tok->valueType()->container);
+
+        tok = Token::findsimplematch(tokenizer.tokens(), "y .");
+        ASSERT(tok && tok->valueType() && tok->valueType()->container);
+    }
+
     void unionWithConstructor() {
         GET_SYMBOL_DB("union Fred {\n"
                       "    Fred(int x) : i(x) { }\n"