Split - cannot compare Split String using If statement

I am extracting substrings from a main string. The extraction works but when I use the If Statement, it always return a string mismatch. For example if the string extracted is cmd = "CMD" with a length of 3, the if statement if (cmd == "CMD") goes to the else portion. Even though the extracted string is "CMD" the equality statement returns false. If I force cmd = "CMD"; just before the if, it works