To force evaluation of the expression before doing the comparison (less safe), the "${eval_cond:xxx}" can be used. With the old behavior we had: >> ${if:a==b} == [0] >> ${if:${raw:a==b}} == [0] >> ${if:${eval_cond:${raw:a==b}}} == [0] And with the new behavior, we have: >> ${if:a==b} == [0] >> ${if:${raw:a==b}} == [1] >> ${if:${eval_cond:${raw:a==b}}} == [0]