diff --git a/xs.h b/xs.h
index 108b276..9c12c4a 100644
--- a/xs.h
+++ b/xs.h
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ unsigned int xs_hash_func(const char *data, int size);
 
 #define xs_is_true(v) (xs_type((v)) == XSTYPE_TRUE)
 #define xs_is_false(v) (xs_type((v)) == XSTYPE_FALSE)
+#define xs_not(v) xs_stock(xs_is_true((v)) ? XSTYPE_FALSE : XSTYPE_TRUE)
 
 #define xs_list_foreach(l, v) for (int ct_##__LINE__ = 0; xs_list_next(l, &v, &ct_##__LINE__); )
 #define xs_dict_foreach(l, k, v) for (int ct_##__LINE__ = 0; xs_dict_next(l, &k, &v, &ct_##__LINE__); )
@@ -357,6 +358,9 @@ int xs_is_null(const xs_val *data)
 int xs_cmp(const xs_val *v1, const xs_val *v2)
 /* compares two values */
 {
+    if (xs_type(v1) == XSTYPE_STRING && xs_type(v2) == XSTYPE_STRING)
+        return strcmp(v1, v2);
+
     int s1 = xs_size(v1);
     int s2 = xs_size(v2);
     int d = s1 - s2;
diff --git a/xs_json.h b/xs_json.h
index de9600f..69249b1 100644
--- a/xs_json.h
+++ b/xs_json.h
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ static xs_val *_xs_json_load_lexer(FILE *f, js_type *t)
     *t = JS_ERROR;
 
     /* skip blanks */
-    while ((c = fgetc(f)) == L' ' || c == L'\t' || c == L'\n' || c == L'\r');
+    while ((c = fgetc(f)) == ' ' || c == '\t' || c == '\n' || c == '\r');
 
     if (c == '{')
         *t = JS_OCURLY;
diff --git a/xs_version.h b/xs_version.h
index a5559d5..8697701 100644
--- a/xs_version.h
+++ b/xs_version.h
@@ -1 +1 @@
-/* 2a3ecc6aef531366cfd45cbf19e34a15f83f69f8 2024-08-30T18:33:51+02:00 */
+/* 9c3dd1b1165c25baa154e82d8d278926e376af81 2024-09-14T18:18:42+02:00 */