diff --git a/include/xcdat/tail_vector.hpp b/include/xcdat/tail_vector.hpp
index fea2033..7212533 100644
--- a/include/xcdat/tail_vector.hpp
+++ b/include/xcdat/tail_vector.hpp
@@ -166,25 +166,28 @@ class tail_vector {
         }
     }
 
+    // Returns true if TAIL[tpos..epos] is a prefix of key, where epos is the end position of the tail.
     inline bool prefix_match(std::string_view key, std::uint64_t tpos) const {
         assert(key.size() != 0);
         std::uint64_t kpos = 0;
-
         if (bin_mode()) {
             do {
+                if (m_terms[tpos]) {
+                    return true;
+                }
                 if (key[kpos] != m_chars[tpos]) {
                     return false;
                 }
                 kpos += 1;
-                if (m_terms[tpos]) {
-                    return kpos == key.size();
-                }
                 tpos += 1;
             } while (kpos < key.size());
             return true;
         } else {
             do {
-                if (!m_chars[tpos] || key[kpos] != m_chars[tpos]) {
+                if (!m_chars[tpos]) {
+                    return true;
+                }
+                if (key[kpos] != m_chars[tpos]) {
                     return false;
                 }
                 kpos += 1;
diff --git a/include/xcdat/trie.hpp b/include/xcdat/trie.hpp
index af7b9d5..9c9de80 100644
--- a/include/xcdat/trie.hpp
+++ b/include/xcdat/trie.hpp
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ class trie {
     class prefix_iterator {
       private:
         const trie_type* m_obj = nullptr;
-        std::string m_key;
+        std::string_view m_key;
         std::uint64_t m_id = 0;
         std::uint64_t m_kpos = 0;
         std::uint64_t m_npos = 0;
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ class trie {
 
       private:
         const trie_type* m_obj = nullptr;
-        std::string m_key;
+        std::string_view m_key;
         std::uint64_t m_id = 0;
         std::string m_decoded;
         std::vector<cursor_type> m_stack;
@@ -317,8 +317,7 @@ class trie {
         : m_num_keys(b.m_keys.size()), m_table(std::move(b.m_table)), m_terms(b.m_terms, true, true),
           m_bcvec(b.m_units, std::move(b.m_leaves)), m_tvec(std::move(b.m_suffixes)) {}
 
-    template <class String>
-    static constexpr String get_suffix(const String& s, std::uint64_t i) {
+    static constexpr std::string_view get_suffix(std::string_view s, std::uint64_t i) {
         assert(i <= s.size());
         return s.substr(i, s.size() - i);
     }
@@ -376,7 +375,7 @@ class trie {
         itr->is_end = true;
 
         const std::uint64_t tpos = m_bcvec.link(itr->m_npos);
-        if (!m_tvec.match(get_suffix(itr->m_key, itr->m_kpos), tpos)) {
+        if (!m_tvec.prefix_match(get_suffix(itr->m_key, itr->m_kpos), tpos)) {
             itr->m_id = num_keys();
             return false;
         }