From e1e20422a65666819f591d21f5bbd29a0c26a5ef Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Nick Koston" <nick@home-assistant.io>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2026 21:47:03 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] deferred

---
 esphome/core/string_ref.h | 13 +++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)

diff --git a/esphome/core/string_ref.h b/esphome/core/string_ref.h
index d502c4d27f..89ea9dd797 100644
--- a/esphome/core/string_ref.h
+++ b/esphome/core/string_ref.h
@@ -81,6 +81,19 @@ class StringRef {
 
   operator std::string() const { return str(); }
 
+  /// Compare with a null-terminated C string (compatible with std::string::compare)
+  int compare(const char *s) const {
+    size_t s_len = std::strlen(s);
+    int result = std::memcmp(base_, s, std::min(len_, s_len));
+    if (result != 0)
+      return result;
+    if (len_ < s_len)
+      return -1;
+    if (len_ > s_len)
+      return 1;
+    return 0;
+  }
+
   /// Find first occurrence of substring, returns std::string::npos if not found.
   /// Note: Requires the underlying string to be null-terminated.
   size_type find(const char *s, size_type pos = 0) const {