title: bash: check if string starts with "/*"
body: <p>In a bash-script I need to check if the string <code>$HEADER</code> starts with the character sequence "/*". I was trying:</p>
  
  <pre><code>if [ $(echo $HEADER | cut -c 1-2) = '/*' ]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It's not working as expected. It seems that the string is compared to the file list of the root directory. </p>
  
  <p>How can I protect the characters / and * to be interpreted from the shell? </p>
  
  <p>To protect the characters with a backslash isn't working either.</p>