diff --git a/src/jsoncons/json_structures.hpp b/src/jsoncons/json_structures.hpp
index d59bf2af74..8ef36f82d3 100644
--- a/src/jsoncons/json_structures.hpp
+++ b/src/jsoncons/json_structures.hpp
@@ -186,7 +186,13 @@ class compare_with_string
     bool operator()(const ValueT& a, const CharT* b) const
     {
         size_t len = std::min JSONCONS_NO_MACRO_EXP(a.name().length(),length_);
-        return std::char_traits<CharT>::compare(a.name().c_str(),b,len) < 0;
+        int result = std::char_traits<CharT>::compare(a.name().data(),b,len);
+        if (result < 0 || result > 0)
+        {
+            return result < 0;
+        }
+
+        return a.name().length() < length_;
     }
 };
 
diff --git a/test_suite/src/json_accessor_tests.cpp b/test_suite/src/json_accessor_tests.cpp
index 4c91c8b8ea..21e2244dc0 100644
--- a/test_suite/src/json_accessor_tests.cpp
+++ b/test_suite/src/json_accessor_tests.cpp
@@ -41,6 +41,17 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(test_object_key_proxy)
     BOOST_CHECK(a.is_null());
 }
 
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(test_compare_with_string)
+{
+    json a;
+    a["key"] = "value";
+    a["key1"] = "value1";
+    a["key2"] = "value2";
+    BOOST_CHECK(a["key"] == a["key"]);
+    BOOST_CHECK(!(a["key"] == a["key1"]));
+    BOOST_CHECK(!(a["key"] == a["key2"]));
+}
+
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(test_count)
 {
 	json a;