diff --git a/include/xcdat/tail_vector.hpp b/include/xcdat/tail_vector.hpp
index fea2033..b51d295 100644
--- a/include/xcdat/tail_vector.hpp
+++ b/include/xcdat/tail_vector.hpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <functional>
+#include <optional>
 #include <string>
 #include <string_view>
 #include <vector>
@@ -166,31 +167,42 @@ class tail_vector {
         }
     }
 
-    inline bool prefix_match(std::string_view key, std::uint64_t tpos) const {
-        assert(key.size() != 0);
-        std::uint64_t kpos = 0;
+    // Returns epos-tpos+1 if TAIL[tpos..epos] is a prefix of key.
+    inline std::optional<std::uint64_t> prefix_match(std::string_view key, std::uint64_t tpos) const {
+        if (tpos == 0) {
+            // suffix is empty, always matched.
+            return 0;
+        }
+        if (key.size() == 0) {
+            // When key is empty, match fails since the suffix is not empty here.
+            return std::nullopt;
+        }
 
+        std::uint64_t kpos = 0;
         if (bin_mode()) {
             do {
                 if (key[kpos] != m_chars[tpos]) {
-                    return false;
+                    return std::nullopt;
                 }
                 kpos += 1;
                 if (m_terms[tpos]) {
-                    return kpos == key.size();
+                    return kpos;
                 }
                 tpos += 1;
             } while (kpos < key.size());
-            return true;
+            return kpos;
         } else {
             do {
-                if (!m_chars[tpos] || key[kpos] != m_chars[tpos]) {
-                    return false;
+                if (!m_chars[tpos]) {
+                    return kpos;
+                }
+                if (key[kpos] != m_chars[tpos]) {
+                    return std::nullopt;
                 }
                 kpos += 1;
                 tpos += 1;
             } while (kpos < key.size());
-            return true;
+            return kpos;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/include/xcdat/trie.hpp b/include/xcdat/trie.hpp
index af7b9d5..07e21bc 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);
     }
@@ -376,12 +375,12 @@ 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)) {
+        const auto matched = m_tvec.prefix_match(get_suffix(itr->m_key, itr->m_kpos), tpos);
+        if (!matched.has_value()) {
             itr->m_id = num_keys();
             return false;
         }
-
-        itr->m_kpos = itr->m_key.size();
+        itr->m_kpos += matched.value();
         itr->m_id = npos_to_id(itr->m_npos);
         return true;
     }
diff --git a/tests/test_trie.cpp b/tests/test_trie.cpp
index f1f48ee..ac5a4a5 100644
--- a/tests/test_trie.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_trie.cpp
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ TEST_CASE("Test " TRIE_NAME " (tiny)") {
     test_basic_operations(trie, keys, others);
 
     {
-        auto itr = trie.make_prefix_iterator("MacBook_Pro");
+        auto itr = trie.make_prefix_iterator("MacBook_Pro_13inch");
         std::vector<std::string> expected = {"Mac", "MacBook", "MacBook_Pro"};
         for (const auto& exp : expected) {
             REQUIRE(itr.next());