diff --git a/src/core/string.c b/src/core/string.c
index 5a185e635..5bd9dae8b 100644
--- a/src/core/string.c
+++ b/src/core/string.c
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ int strncmp ( const char *first, const char *second, size_t max ) {
 	int diff;
 
 	for ( ; max-- ; first_bytes++, second_bytes++ ) {
-		diff = ( *second_bytes - *first_bytes );
+		diff = ( *first_bytes - *second_bytes );
 		if ( diff )
 			return diff;
 		if ( ! *first_bytes )
@@ -195,8 +195,8 @@ int strcasecmp ( const char *first, const char *second ) {
 	int diff;
 
 	for ( ; ; first_bytes++, second_bytes++ ) {
-		diff = ( toupper ( *second_bytes ) -
-			 toupper ( *first_bytes ) );
+		diff = ( toupper ( *first_bytes ) -
+			 toupper ( *second_bytes ) );
 		if ( diff )
 			return diff;
 		if ( ! *first_bytes )
diff --git a/src/tests/string_test.c b/src/tests/string_test.c
index 4693b5f65..a66501da3 100644
--- a/src/tests/string_test.c
+++ b/src/tests/string_test.c
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ static void string_test_exec ( void ) {
 	ok ( strcmp ( "Hello", "hello" ) != 0 );
 	ok ( strcmp ( "Hello", "Hello world!" ) != 0 );
 	ok ( strcmp ( "Hello world!", "Hello" ) != 0 );
+	ok ( strcmp ( "abc", "def" ) < 0 );
 
 	/* Test strncmp() */
 	ok ( strncmp ( "", "", 0 ) == 0 );