title: Comparison failure between a variable string and a context param value using fn:startsWith
body: <p>With the following piece of code, if <code>s_dlText</code> starts with the string <code>"Shipping costs"</code>, the code inside the <code>c:when</code> instruction is executed (the  word <code>"Pass1"</code> appears in the resulting page):</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;c:choose&gt;
    &lt;c:when test="${fn:startsWith(s_dlText, 'Shipping costs') == true}"&gt;
      &lt;br /&gt;
      Pass1
      &lt;br /&gt;
    &lt;/c:when&gt;
  &lt;/c:choose&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Whereas in the following case and again, if <code>s_dlText</code> starts with the string <code>"Shipping costs"</code>, the code inside the <code>c:when</code> instruction is not executed (the  word <code>"Pass2"</code> does NOT appear in the resulting page):</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;c:choose&gt;
    &lt;c:when test="${fn:startsWith(s_dlText, S_SHIPPING_COSTS) == true}"&gt;
      &lt;br /&gt;
      Pass2
      &lt;br /&gt;
    &lt;/c:when&gt;
  &lt;/c:choose&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><code>S_SHIPPING_COSTS</code> is declared as follows in <code>web.xml</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;context-param&gt;
    &lt;param-name&gt;S_IF_MSG_SHIPPING_COSTS&lt;/param-name&gt;
    &lt;param-value&gt;&lt;![CDATA[Shipping costs]]&gt;&lt;/param-value&gt;
  &lt;/context-param&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Do you see what's not being done the right way? Thanks.</p>
  
  <p>NOTE 1</p>
  
  <p>Note that, if I remove the <code>&lt;![CDATA[]]&gt;</code> markup, the behavior is the same.</p>