What's the proper way to compare strings in in A7?

I've tried the following:

Code:
if(str_cmpi((dialog_file.pstring)[0],"#") == 1 ) //We know str_cmpi returns 1 if there is a match


and

Code:
if ( (dialog_file.pstring)[0] == # )


Neither of these seems to be working...

AMD 64 x2 4400+ 2048mb DDR3200 NVidia 6800GS 256mb Soundblaster Audigy 2 A7 Commercial 7.07