diff --git a/examples/close_match.cpp b/examples/close_match.cpp
index e8763837..2bc64fcf 100644
--- a/examples/close_match.cpp
+++ b/examples/close_match.cpp
@@ -20,11 +20,9 @@
 // Levenshtein distance function code generated by chatgpt/copilot
 std::size_t levenshteinDistance(const std::string &s1, const std::string &s2) {
     std::size_t len1 = s1.size(), len2 = s2.size();
-    if(len1 == 0)
-        return len2;
-    if(len2 == 0)
-        return len1;
-
+    if (len1 == 0 || len2 == 0) {
+        return (std::max)(len1, len2);
+    }
     std::vector<std::size_t> prev(len2 + 1), curr(len2 + 1);
     std::iota(prev.begin(), prev.end(), 0);  // Fill prev with {0, 1, ..., len2}