diff --git a/shared/common.cpp b/shared/common.cpp
index 7f9ee5a..b131cf0 100644
--- a/shared/common.cpp
+++ b/shared/common.cpp
@@ -947,13 +947,13 @@ int EsStringCompare(const char *s1, ptrdiff_t _length1, const char *s2, ptrdiff_
 	size_t length1 = _length1, length2 = _length2;
 
 	while (length1 || length2) {
+		if (!length1) return -1;
+		if (!length2) return 1;
+
 		// Skip over rich text markup.
 		if (*s1 == '\a') while (length1 && *s1 != ']') s1++, length1--;
 		if (*s2 == '\a') while (length2 && *s2 != ']') s2++, length2--;
 
-		if (!length1) return -1;
-		if (!length2) return 1;
-
 		char c1 = *s1;
 		char c2 = *s2;