diff --git a/src/openalpr/support/filesystem.cpp b/src/openalpr/support/filesystem.cpp
index d547423..84c2f2f 100644
--- a/src/openalpr/support/filesystem.cpp
+++ b/src/openalpr/support/filesystem.cpp
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 bool startsWith(std::string const &fullString, std::string const &prefix)
 {
-  if(fullString.substr(0, prefix.size()) == prefix) {
+  if(fullString.substr(0, prefix.size()).compare(prefix) == 0) {
       return true;
   }