# Search does not seem to work for tags with emoji **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug\ **Created:** [February 13, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/search-does-not-seem-to-work-for-tags-with-emoji/141458 "2020-02-13T01:36:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1 ## AI-generated summary A user, [arnaud_sahuguet](/t/-/141458/1), reported an issue with search functionality on the forum, specifically with tags containing emojis. The search does not return topics correctly when using tags with emojis. [joffreyjaffeux](/t/-/141458/3) identified the problem being the regex used in `search.rb` does not allow emojis. A possible solution is to use a dedicated emoji regex, such as [ruby-emoji-regex](https://github.com/ticky/ruby-emoji-regex). [sam](/t/-/141458/4) expressed concerns about supporting this edge case, while [joffreyjaffeux](/t/-/141458/5) pointed out that there is no validating regex for the Tag class. [neil](/t/-/141458/6) suggested looking into supporting this in version 2.5, as there are no tests for emoji tag names. [lucasbasquerotto](/t/-/141458/7) further investigated the issue and found that search works partially when using only the tag or with certain keywords, but not with the expected topic.
**Author:** ![arnaud\_sahuguet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/arnaud_sahuguet/32/122538_2.png) [@arnaud\_sahuguet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/arnaud_sahuguet)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/search-does-not-seem-to-work-for-tags-with-emoji/141458/1 "2020-02-13T01:36:14Z")
I have tags that contain emojis, e.g. `new-york-city-🇺🇸`. When using the search and advanced search, I don’t get the topics. Here is an example: Query: [https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/search?expanded=true&q=tags%3Anew-york-city-🇺🇸subway](https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/search?expanded=true&q=tags%3Anew-york-city-%F0%9F%87%BA%F0%9F%87%B8subway) And here is a topic that should be returned: [https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/t/subway-accessibility-info-and-elevator-escalator-status-alerts/139](https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/t/subway-accessibility-info-and-elevator-escalator-status-alerts/139) ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 2:46am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/search-does-not-seem-to-work-for-tags-with-emoji/141458/2 "2020-02-13T02:46:45Z")
Not sure if this is resolvable, what is your take @neil? ---
**Author:** ![j.jaffeux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/j.jaffeux/32/60297_2.png) [@j.jaffeux](https://meta.discourse.org/u/j.jaffeux)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 9:40am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/search-does-not-seem-to-work-for-tags-with-emoji/141458/3 "2020-02-13T09:40:22Z")
AFAIK it’s only because the regex we have here: > is not allowing emojis. If this was matching on emoji, it would work after. We might want to consider using something like: [GitHub - ticky/ruby-emoji-regex: 💎 A set of Ruby regular expressions for matching Unicode Emoji symbols. · GitHub](https://github.com/ticky/ruby-emoji-regex) to have a good emoji regex. what do you think @sam ? ---
**Author:** ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 10:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/search-does-not-seem-to-work-for-tags-with-emoji/141458/4 "2020-02-13T10:22:48Z")
Oh my, this feels like one big monster to support for a major edge case, do we already have a validating regex on the Tag class? ---
**Author:** ![j.jaffeux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/j.jaffeux/32/60297_2.png) [@j.jaffeux](https://meta.discourse.org/u/j.jaffeux)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 10:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/search-does-not-seem-to-work-for-tags-with-emoji/141458/5 "2020-02-13T10:35:22Z")
I don’t think we do, might be wrong though @neil probably knows better AFAIK we just have this `clean_tag` function: > Which is kinda copied in client side here: [https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/app/assets/javascripts/select-kit/mixins/tags.js.es6#L80](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/app/assets/javascripts/select-kit/mixins/tags.js.es6#L80) Also this would probably be useful at other places as we for example generate this client side: [https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/app/assets/javascripts/pretty-text/emoji.js.es6#L24](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/app/assets/javascripts/pretty-text/emoji.js.es6#L24) ---
**Author:** ![neil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/neil/32/102150_2.png) [@neil](https://meta.discourse.org/u/neil)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 4:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/search-does-not-seem-to-work-for-tags-with-emoji/141458/6 "2020-02-13T16:25:49Z")
I doubt that we have any tests for emoji tag names. Maybe we can look into supporting this in 2.5? ---
**Author:** ![lucasbasquerotto](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/lucasbasquerotto/32/133376_2.png) [@lucasbasquerotto](https://meta.discourse.org/u/lucasbasquerotto)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/search-does-not-seem-to-work-for-tags-with-emoji/141458/7 "2020-02-13T17:56:29Z")
I see that the search returns only one topic when using only the tag (without the `subway` keyword) in the search (it’s not the topic posted in the OP): [https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/search?expanded=true&q=tags%3Anew-york-city-🇺🇸](https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/search?expanded=true&q=tags%3Anew-york-city-%F0%9F%87%BA%F0%9F%87%B8) It also works with other keywords (but only for that topic returned previously): [https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/search?expanded=true&q=tags%3Anew-york-city-🇺🇸%20personal](https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/search?expanded=true&q=tags%3Anew-york-city-%F0%9F%87%BA%F0%9F%87%B8%20personal) If I don’t use tags it returns correctly: [https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/search?expanded=true&q=new-york-city-🇺🇸](https://urbantech-forum.cornelltech.io/search?expanded=true&q=new-york-city-%F0%9F%87%BA%F0%9F%87%B8) The topic returned previously, with the tag, is the 1st returned using a keyword with the tag name, but the post is another (but it might just be because of (maybe) a metadata or something like this in the post that is caught by the search, and not the tag itself, but I can’t say for sure).