diff --git a/src/json/read.c b/src/json/read.c
index 1401633..ea6e106 100644
--- a/src/json/read.c
+++ b/src/json/read.c
@@ -170,30 +170,31 @@ static bool json_parse_string(tokendata_t *token, const stream_t *stream) {
 	return true;
 }
 
-static bool json_parse_ident(token_t *token, const stream_t *stream, char first) {
-
-	char buf[4];
-	buf[3] = '\0';
-
-	if (stream_read(stream, buf, 3) == false)
+static bool json_ident_assert(const stream_t *stream, const char *rest) {
+	char c;
+	if (stream_read(stream, &c, 1) == false)
 		return false;
+	if (c != *rest)
+		return false;
+	rest += 1;
+	if (*rest == '\0')
+		return true;
+	else 
+		return json_ident_assert(stream, rest);
+}
 
-	if (first == 't' && strcmp(buf, "rue") == 0) {
+static bool json_parse_ident(token_t *token, const stream_t *stream, char first) {
+	if (first == 't' && json_ident_assert(stream, "true")) {
 		token->type = TOK_BOOL;
 		token->data.b = true;
-	} else if (first == 'f' && strcmp(buf, "als") == 0) {
-		if (stream_read(stream, buf, 1) == false)
-			return false;
-		if (*buf != 'e')
-			return false;
+	} else if (first == 'f' && json_ident_assert(stream, "alse")) {
 		token->type = TOK_BOOL;
 		token->data.b = false;
-	} else if (first == 'n' && strcmp(buf, "ull") == 0) {
+	} else if (first == 'n' && json_ident_assert(stream, "ull")) {
 		token->type = TOK_NULL;
 	} else {
 		return false;
 	}
-
 	return true;
 }