diff --git a/lib/checkstring.cpp b/lib/checkstring.cpp
index 1ca3dc9c1..a4211d8b8 100644
--- a/lib/checkstring.cpp
+++ b/lib/checkstring.cpp
@@ -276,8 +276,8 @@ void CheckString::checkIncorrectStringCompare()
     for (const Scope * scope : symbolDatabase->functionScopes) {
         for (const Token* tok = scope->bodyStart->next(); tok != scope->bodyEnd; tok = tok->next()) {
             // skip "assert(str && ..)" and "assert(.. && str)"
-            if (Token::Match(tok, "%name% (") &&
-                (endsWith(tok->str(), "assert") || endsWith(tok->str(), "ASSERT")) &&
+            if ((endsWith(tok->str(), "assert", 6) || endsWith(tok->str(), "ASSERT", 6)) &&
+                Token::Match(tok, "%name% (") &&
                 (Token::Match(tok->tokAt(2), "%str% &&") || Token::Match(tok->next()->link()->tokAt(-2), "&& %str% )")))
                 tok = tok->next()->link();
 
diff --git a/lib/utils.h b/lib/utils.h
index d281699e8..9f22194e3 100644
--- a/lib/utils.h
+++ b/lib/utils.h
@@ -31,9 +31,9 @@ inline bool endsWith(const std::string &str, char c)
     return str[str.size()-1U] == c;
 }
 
-inline bool endsWith(const std::string &str, const std::string &end)
+inline bool endsWith(const std::string &str, const char end[], std::size_t endlen)
 {
-    return (str.size() >= end.size()) && (str.compare(str.size()-end.size(), end.size(), end)==0);
+    return (str.size() >= endlen) && (str.compare(str.size()-endlen, endlen, end)==0);
 }
 
 inline static const char *getOrdinalText(int i)