diff --git a/src/base/intern_string.hh b/src/base/intern_string.hh
index 4d390fa0..b772c568 100644
--- a/src/base/intern_string.hh
+++ b/src/base/intern_string.hh
@@ -204,8 +204,10 @@ struct string_fragment {
 
     int operator<(const string_fragment& rhs) const
     {
-        return strncmp(
-            this->data(), rhs.data(), std::min(this->length(), rhs.length()));
+        return strncmp(this->data(),
+                       rhs.data(),
+                       std::min(this->length(), rhs.length()))
+            < 0;
     }
 
     bool iequal(const string_fragment& sf) const
diff --git a/test/expected/test_config.sh_a0907769aba112d628e7ebe39c4ec252e5e0bc69.err b/test/expected/test_config.sh_a0907769aba112d628e7ebe39c4ec252e5e0bc69.err
index 4ef50e41..e703fcb1 100644
--- a/test/expected/test_config.sh_a0907769aba112d628e7ebe39c4ec252e5e0bc69.err
+++ b/test/expected/test_config.sh_a0907769aba112d628e7ebe39c4ec252e5e0bc69.err
@@ -55,18 +55,6 @@
 ✘ error: invalid JSON
  reason: parse error: premature EOF
  --> {test_dir}/bad-config2/formats/invalid-config/config.truncated.json:3
-✘ error: invalid value for property “/ui/theme-defs/invalid-theme/styles/text/color”
- reason: invalid color -- “InvalidColor”
- |        reason: Unknown color: 'InvalidColor'.  See https://jonasjacek.github.io/colors/ for a list of supported color names
- --> {test_dir}/bad-config2/configs/invalid-theme/config.json:8
- = help: Property Synopsis
-           /ui/theme-defs/invalid-theme/styles/text/color #hex|color_name
-         Description
-           The foreground color value for this style. The value can be the name of an xterm color, the hexadecimal value, or a theme variable reference.
-         Examples
-           #fff
-           Green
-           $black
 ✘ error: missing value for property “/log/annotations/org.lnav.test.no-condition/condition”
  reason: SQL expression is invalid
  |        reason: incomplete input
@@ -82,3 +70,15 @@
            /log/annotations/org.lnav.test.no-handler/handler <script>
          Description
            The script to execute to generate the annotation content. A JSON object with the log message content will be sent to the script on the standard input
+✘ error: invalid value for property “/ui/theme-defs/invalid-theme/styles/text/color”
+ reason: invalid color -- “InvalidColor”
+ |        reason: Unknown color: 'InvalidColor'.  See https://jonasjacek.github.io/colors/ for a list of supported color names
+ --> {test_dir}/bad-config2/configs/invalid-theme/config.json:8
+ = help: Property Synopsis
+           /ui/theme-defs/invalid-theme/styles/text/color #hex|color_name
+         Description
+           The foreground color value for this style. The value can be the name of an xterm color, the hexadecimal value, or a theme variable reference.
+         Examples
+           #fff
+           Green
+           $black