Scenario
As an admin or content owner, you want to use text filters in PlusPlus to their full potential, including using operators effectively and regular expressions for more complex searches.
Solution
Use text field operators
You can use an operator in tandem with a search value to perform searches.
For example, if you want to build a list of anyone with "engineer" in their job title, you can use the Title filter on the People dashboard, set the operator to Contains, and enter “engineer” as your search value. The dashboard would display everyone with the word "engineer" anywhere in their job title.
The following table explains how each operator works.
Operator | Finds a match when… | Example | Case-Sensitive |
Contains | your search term appears anywhere in the text value | Contains 'jon' returns names like Jonathan Vasquez and Anna Jones | No |
Does not contain | your search term does not appear anywhere in the text value | Does not contain 'jon' returns anyone not named Jonathan, Jonas, Jones, Eljon, and so on | No |
Is | your search term is exactly the same as the text value | Is 'Aaron Park' returns anyone named Aaron Park, but not Aaron Jones or Erin Park | Yes |
Is not | your search term is anything but the text value | Is not 'Aaron Park' returns anyone not named exactly Aaron Park, such as Aaron Jones, Erin Park, and so on | Yes |
Starts with | the text value starts with your search term | Starts with 'jon' returns anyone whose first name is Jonathan, Jonas, and so on, but not people whose last name starts with 'jon' like Felicia Jones | No |
Ends with | the text value ends with your search term | Ends with 'ones' returns anyone whose last name is Jones, Quinones, and so on | No |
Matches | the search term matches the text value as a regular expression pattern (like Contains) | Matches 'Jon|Fer' returns anyone named Jonathan, Jonas, Jones, and so on and anyone named Ferrer, Fernandez, and so on | Yes |
Does not match | the search term does not match the text value as a regular expression pattern (like Does not contain) | Does not match 'Jon|Fer' returns anyone not named Jonathan, Jonas, Jones, and so on nor anyone named Ferrer, Fernandez, and so on | Yes |
Any of | any of the comma-separated values form the search term are exactly like the text value (like Is but also allows you to enter multiple search values separated by commas) | Any of 'Aaron Park,Charlie Palmer' returns anyone with exactly those two names | Yes |
None of | none of the comma-separated values form the search term are exactly like the text value (like Is not but also allows you to enter multiple search values separated by commas) | None of 'Aaron Park,Charlie Palmer' returns anyone who does not have exactly those two names | Yes |
See the Go deeper section for more examples of how to use text field operators.
Use regular expressions for complex searches
Regular expressions are an industry standard language for text matching and are significantly more powerful than other simple text filters we offer. You can use regular expressions with the Matches and Does not match operators. This allows you to perform searches as advanced as your knowledge of regular expressions allows, but a basic knowledge of regular expressions can be massively helpful in building reports as well. Here are some resources on regular expressions if you want to learn more.
See the Go deeper section for examples of how to use regular expressions.
Go deeper
The following table gives a few examples of how to use operators and regular expressions to perform more complex searches.
Scenario | What to do with text filters | Why it works |
You want to build a list of all people with "senior" in their job title, but in your instance of PlusPlus, some titles use "Senior" and some use "Sr." | In the Title text filter, use the Matches operator and enter Senior|Sr. | The Title filter searches all job titles, and the Matches operator finds any title with "Senior" or "Sr." anywhere in it. |
You're searching for a person whose first name is Ashley, and you remember she has a hyphenated last name, but can't remember what it is. | In the Name text filter, use the Matches operator and enter Ashley.*- | The Name text filter searches all names, and the Matches operator accepts the regular expression Ashley.*-, which returns any name that has Ashley in it, followed by any number of characters (.*) before reaching a hyphen (-). |
You want to build a list for skip-level meetings for people trying to reach senior level. | In the Manager text filter, use the Matches operator and enter the names of all the managers who report to you, separated by a vertical bar ( | ), such as Amanda Castro|James Synsar|Aarvul Rhamasa | The Manager filter searches all names based on the manager they report to, and Matches pulls the three names given in this example, giving you a list of all the people who report to these three managers.
The Title filter searches all job titles, and Does not match finds any title not containing Sr. or Senior, removing anyone from the list who is already at senior level. |