diff --git a/ZString.cpp b/ZString.cpp
index 132b545..b4b2496 100644
--- a/ZString.cpp
+++ b/ZString.cpp
@@ -104,22 +104,12 @@ namespace coreutils {
       return (strncmp(data, valuex.data, valuex.length <= length ? valuex.length : length) > 0);
    }
 
-   bool ZString::operator==(const ZString &valuex) {
-      if((valuex.getLength() == 0) && (length != 0))
-	return false;
+   bool ZString::operator==(const ZString valuex) {
+      if(valuex.getLength() != length)
+	return false; 
       return (strncmp(data, valuex.data, valuex.length <= length ? valuex.length : length) == 0);
    }
 
-   // bool ZString::operator==(std::string value) {
-   //    if(value.length() != length)
-	// return false;
-   //    return (strncmp(data, value.c_str(), length) == 0);
-   // }
-
-//   bool ZString::operator==(const char *valuex) const {
-//      return (strncmp(data, valuex, length) == 0);
-//   }
-
    bool ZString::operator!=(const ZString &valuex) const {
 //      if(length != valuex.getLength())
 //	return false;
diff --git a/ZString.h b/ZString.h
index 258f574..c332e4a 100644
--- a/ZString.h
+++ b/ZString.h
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ namespace coreutils {
       bool operator>(const ZString &valuex) const;
       bool operator<=(const ZString &valuex) const;
       bool operator>=(const ZString &valuex) const;
-      bool operator==(const ZString &valuex);
+      bool operator==(const ZString valuex);
       bool operator!=(const ZString &valuex) const;
       bool operator!=(const char *valuex) const;
       
diff --git a/testing/zstring_test.cpp b/testing/zstring_test.cpp
index b4d9d66..cc51a68 100644
--- a/testing/zstring_test.cpp
+++ b/testing/zstring_test.cpp
@@ -105,5 +105,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 
    std::cout << "Null assignment" << std::endl;
    coreutils::ZString test20(NULL);
+   std::cout << "[" << test20 << "]" << std::endl;
+   std::cout << "Comparisons with null value: " << (test20 == "true") << std::endl;
    
 }