diff --git a/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Ini/Ini/IniConfigurationSource.cs b/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Ini/Ini/IniConfigurationSource.cs
index 6565e3f..ec9cf29 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Ini/Ini/IniConfigurationSource.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Ini/Ini/IniConfigurationSource.cs
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Ini
                     if (line[0] == '[' && line[line.Length - 1] == ']')
                     {
                         // remove the brackets
-                        sectionPrefix = line.Substring(1, line.Length - 2) + ":";
+                        sectionPrefix = line.Substring(1, line.Length - 2) + Constants.KeyDelimiter;
                         continue;
                     }
 
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Json/Json/JsonConfigurationFileParser.cs b/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Json/Json/JsonConfigurationFileParser.cs
index fe1516f..58f9101 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Json/Json/JsonConfigurationFileParser.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Json/Json/JsonConfigurationFileParser.cs
@@ -101,13 +101,13 @@ namespace Microsoft.Framework.Configuration.Json
         private void EnterContext(string context)
         {
             _context.Push(context);
-            _currentPath = string.Join(":", _context.Reverse());
+            _currentPath = string.Join(Constants.KeyDelimiter, _context.Reverse());
         }
 
         private void ExitContext()
         {
             _context.Pop();
-            _currentPath = string.Join(":", _context.Reverse());
+            _currentPath = string.Join(Constants.KeyDelimiter, _context.Reverse());
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration/ConfigurationKeyComparer.cs b/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration/ConfigurationKeyComparer.cs
index 4cb57a5..f040f4f 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration/ConfigurationKeyComparer.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.Framework.Configuration/ConfigurationKeyComparer.cs
@@ -8,14 +8,14 @@ namespace Microsoft.Framework.Configuration
 {
     public class ConfigurationKeyComparer : IComparer<string>
     {
-        private const char Separator = ':';
-
+        private static readonly string[] _keyDelimiterArray = new[] { Constants.KeyDelimiter };
+        
         public static ConfigurationKeyComparer Instance { get; } = new ConfigurationKeyComparer();
 
         public int Compare(string x, string y)
         {
-            var xParts = x?.Split(Separator) ?? new string[0];
-            var yParts = y?.Split(Separator) ?? new string[0];
+            var xParts = x?.Split(_keyDelimiterArray, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries) ?? new string[0];
+            var yParts = y?.Split(_keyDelimiterArray, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries) ?? new string[0];
 
             // Compare each part until we get two parts that are not equal
             for (int i = 0; i < Math.Min(xParts.Length, yParts.Length); i++)