Filter datatable column using dropdown

Question

I am having problems with datatable filtering records as per dropdown values.

Let's say for example Garrett Winters is a user who is connected to two or more offices like Tokyo , San Francisco . If I search for the Tokyo office then Garrett Winters should be be in that list and if I search for the San Francisco office then again Garrett Winters should be come in that list.

Currently in the dropdown a new option generated as Tokyo,San Francisco which is not needed when searching Garrett Winters name only.

Can anyone help with this?

 $(document).ready(function() { $('#tableTrigger').DataTable({ "lengthMenu": [ [10, 25, 50, 100, -1], [10, 25, 50, 100, "All"] ], "scrollY": "200px", "dom": 'rtipS', // searching: false, "deferRender": true, initComplete: function() { var column = this.api().column(2); var select = $('<select class="filter"><option value=""></option></select>') .appendTo('#selectTriggerFilter') .on('change', function() { var val = $(this).val(); column.search(val ? '^' + $(this).val() + '$' : val, true, false).draw(); }); column.data().unique().sort().each(function(d, j) { select.append('<option value="' + d + '">' + d + '</option>'); }); } }); });

 <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.16/css/jquery.dataTables.min.css" /> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.16/js/jquery.dataTables.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-validate/1.14.0/jquery.validate.min.js"></script> <p id="selectTriggerFilter"><label><b>Filter:</b></label><br></p> <table id="tableTrigger" class="display" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <thead> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Position</th> <th>Office</th> <th>Age</th> <th>Start date</th> <th>Salary</th> </tr> </thead> <tfoot> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Position</th> <th>Office</th> <th>Age</th> <th>Start date</th> <th>Salary</th> </tr> </tfoot> <tbody> <tr> <td>Tiger Nixon</td> <td>System Architecter</td> <td>Edinburgh,Tokyo</td> <td>61</td> <td>2011/04/25</td> <td>$320,800</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Garrett Winters</td> <td>Accountant</td> <td>Tokyo,San Francisco</td> <td>63</td> <td>2011/07/25</td> <td>$170,750</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ashton Cox</td> <td>Junior Technical Author</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>66</td> <td>2009/01/12</td> <td>$86,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cedric Kelly</td> <td>Senior Javascript Developer</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>22</td> <td>2012/03/29</td> <td>$433,060</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Airi Satou</td> <td>Accountant</td> <td>Tokyo</td> <td>33</td> <td>2008/11/28</td> <td>$162,700</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Brielle Williamson</td> <td>Integration Specialist</td> <td>New York</td> <td>61</td> <td>2012/12/02</td> <td>$372,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Herrod Chandler</td> <td>Sales Assistant</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>59</td> <td>2012/08/06</td> <td>$137,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Rhona Davidson</td> <td>Integration Specialist</td> <td>Tokyo</td> <td>55</td> <td>2010/10/14</td> <td>$327,900</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Colleen Hurst</td> <td>Javascript Developer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>39</td> <td>2009/09/15</td> <td>$205,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sonya Frost</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>23</td> <td>2008/12/13</td> <td>$103,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jena Gaines</td> <td>Office Manager</td> <td>London</td> <td>30</td> <td>2008/12/19</td> <td>$90,560</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Quinn Flynn</td> <td>Support Lead</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>22</td> <td>2013/03/03</td> <td>$342,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Charde Marshall</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>36</td> <td>2008/10/16</td> <td>$470,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Haley Kennedy</td> <td>Senior Marketing Designer</td> <td>London</td> <td>43</td> <td>2012/12/18</td> <td>$313,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tatyana Fitzpatrick</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>London</td> <td>19</td> <td>2010/03/17</td> <td>$385,750</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Michael Silva</td> <td>Marketing Designer</td> <td>London</td> <td>66</td> <td>2012/11/27</td> <td>$198,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Paul Byrd</td> <td>Chief Financial Officer (CFO)</td> <td>New York</td> <td>64</td> <td>2010/06/09</td> <td>$725,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gloria Little</td> <td>Systems Administrator</td> <td>New York</td> <td>59</td> <td>2009/04/10</td> <td>$237,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bradley Greer</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>London</td> <td>41</td> <td>2012/10/13</td> <td>$132,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Dai Rios</td> <td>Personnel Lead</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>35</td> <td>2012/09/26</td> <td>$217,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jenette Caldwell</td> <td>Development Lead</td> <td>New York</td> <td>30</td> <td>2011/09/03</td> <td>$345,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Yuri Berry</td> <td>Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)</td> <td>New York</td> <td>40</td> <td>2009/06/25</td> <td>$675,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Caesar Vance</td> <td>Pre-Sales Support</td> <td>New York</td> <td>21</td> <td>2011/12/12</td> <td>$106,450</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Doris Wilder</td> <td>Sales Assistant</td> <td>Sidney</td> <td>23</td> <td>2010/09/20</td> <td>$85,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Angelica Ramos</td> <td>Chief Executive Officer (CEO)</td> <td>London</td> <td>47</td> <td>2009/10/09</td> <td>$1,200,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gavin Joyce</td> <td>Developer</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>42</td> <td>2010/12/22</td> <td>$92,575</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jennifer Chang</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>Singapore</td> <td>28</td> <td>2010/11/14</td> <td>$357,650</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Brenden Wagner</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>28</td> <td>2011/06/07</td> <td>$206,850</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Fiona Green</td> <td>Chief Operating Officer (COO)</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>48</td> <td>2010/03/11</td> <td>$850,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Shou Itou</td> <td>Regional Marketing</td> <td>Tokyo</td> <td>20</td> <td>2011/08/14</td> <td>$163,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Michelle House</td> <td>Integration Specialist</td> <td>Sidney</td> <td>37</td> <td>2011/06/02</td> <td>$95,400</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Suki Burks</td> <td>Developer</td> <td>London</td> <td>53</td> <td>2009/10/22</td> <td>$114,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Prescott Bartlett</td> <td>Technical Author</td> <td>London</td> <td>27</td> <td>2011/05/07</td> <td>$145,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gavin Cortez</td> <td>Team Leader</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>22</td> <td>2008/10/26</td> <td>$235,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Martena Mccray</td> <td>Post-Sales support</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>46</td> <td>2011/03/09</td> <td>$324,050</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Unity Butler</td> <td>Marketing Designer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>47</td> <td>2009/12/09</td> <td>$85,675</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Howard Hatfield</td> <td>Office Manager</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>51</td> <td>2008/12/16</td> <td>$164,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hope Fuentes</td> <td>Secretary</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>41</td> <td>2010/02/12</td> <td>$109,850</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Vivian Harrell</td> <td>Financial Controller</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>62</td> <td>2009/02/14</td> <td>$452,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Timothy Mooney</td> <td>Office Manager</td> <td>London</td> <td>37</td> <td>2008/12/11</td> <td>$136,200</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jackson Bradshaw</td> <td>Director</td> <td>New York</td> <td>65</td> <td>2008/09/26</td> <td>$645,750</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Olivia Liang</td> <td>Support Engineer</td> <td>Singapore</td> <td>64</td> <td>2011/02/03</td> <td>$234,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bruno Nash</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>London</td> <td>38</td> <td>2011/05/03</td> <td>$163,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sakura Yamamoto</td> <td>Support Engineer</td> <td>Tokyo</td> <td>37</td> <td>2009/08/19</td> <td>$139,575</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Thor Walton</td> <td>Developer</td> <td>New York</td> <td>61</td> <td>2013/08/11</td> <td>$98,540</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Finn Camacho</td> <td>Support Engineer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>47</td> <td>2009/07/07</td> <td>$87,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Serge Baldwin</td> <td>Data Coordinator</td> <td>Singapore</td> <td>64</td> <td>2012/04/09</td> <td>$138,575</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Zenaida Frank</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>New York</td> <td>63</td> <td>2010/01/04</td> <td>$125,250</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Zorita Serrano</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>56</td> <td>2012/06/01</td> <td>$115,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jennifer Acosta</td> <td>Junior Javascript Developer</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>43</td> <td>2013/02/01</td> <td>$75,650</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cara Stevens</td> <td>Sales Assistant</td> <td>New York</td> <td>46</td> <td>2011/12/06</td> <td>$145,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hermione Butler</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>London</td> <td>47</td> <td>2011/03/21</td> <td>$356,250</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lael Greer</td> <td>Systems Administrator</td> <td>London</td> <td>21</td> <td>2009/02/27</td> <td>$103,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jonas Alexander</td> <td>Developer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>30</td> <td>2010/07/14</td> <td>$86,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Shad Decker</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>51</td> <td>2008/11/13</td> <td>$183,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Michael Bruce</td> <td>Javascript Developer</td> <td>Singapore</td> <td>29</td> <td>2011/06/27</td> <td>$183,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Donna Snider</td> <td>Customer Support</td> <td>New York</td> <td>27</td> <td>2011/01/25</td> <td>$112,000</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

Answer 1

When generating the <option> s you will have to check the value if it contains more than one city and remove the duplicate entries:

var values = [];
column.data().each(function(d, j) {
  d.split(",").forEach(function(data) {
    if (values.indexOf(data) === -1) {
      values.push(data);
    }
  });
});

The second necessary step is to change the way you build your regex for filtering. At the moment you're only looking for the complete line ( ^...$ ) instead of words. This can be done with word boundaries ( \\b ):

.on('change', function() {
  column.search(this.value ? '\\b' + this.value + '\\b' : "", true, false).draw();
})

 $(document).ready(function() { $('#tableTrigger').DataTable({ "lengthMenu": [ [10, 25, 50, 100, -1], [10, 25, 50, 100, "All"] ], "scrollY": "200px", "dom": 'rtipS', "deferRender": true, "initComplete": function() { var column = this.api().column(2); var values = []; column.data().each(function(d, j) { d.split(",").forEach(function(data) { data = data.trim(); if (values.indexOf(data) === -1) { values.push(data); } }); }); $('<select class="filter"><option value=""></option></select>') .append(values.sort().map(function(o) { return '<option value="' + o + '">' + o + '</option>'; })) .on('change', function() { column.search(this.value ? '\\\\b' + this.value + '\\\\b' : "", true, false).draw(); }) .appendTo('#selectTriggerFilter'); } }); });

 <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.16/css/jquery.dataTables.min.css" /> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.16/js/jquery.dataTables.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-validate/1.14.0/jquery.validate.min.js"></script> <p id="selectTriggerFilter"><label><b>Filter:</b></label><br></p> <table id="tableTrigger" class="display" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <thead> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Position</th> <th>Office</th> <th>Age</th> <th>Start date</th> <th>Salary</th> </tr> </thead> <tfoot> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Position</th> <th>Office</th> <th>Age</th> <th>Start date</th> <th>Salary</th> </tr> </tfoot> <tbody> <tr> <td>Tiger Nixon</td> <td>System Architecter</td> <td>Edinburgh,Tokyo</td> <td>61</td> <td>2011/04/25</td> <td>$320,800</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Garrett Winters</td> <td>Accountant</td> <td>Tokyo,San Francisco</td> <td>63</td> <td>2011/07/25</td> <td>$170,750</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ashton Cox</td> <td>Junior Technical Author</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>66</td> <td>2009/01/12</td> <td>$86,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cedric Kelly</td> <td>Senior Javascript Developer</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>22</td> <td>2012/03/29</td> <td>$433,060</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Airi Satou</td> <td>Accountant</td> <td>Tokyo</td> <td>33</td> <td>2008/11/28</td> <td>$162,700</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Brielle Williamson</td> <td>Integration Specialist</td> <td>New York</td> <td>61</td> <td>2012/12/02</td> <td>$372,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Herrod Chandler</td> <td>Sales Assistant</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>59</td> <td>2012/08/06</td> <td>$137,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Rhona Davidson</td> <td>Integration Specialist</td> <td>Tokyo</td> <td>55</td> <td>2010/10/14</td> <td>$327,900</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Colleen Hurst</td> <td>Javascript Developer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>39</td> <td>2009/09/15</td> <td>$205,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sonya Frost</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>23</td> <td>2008/12/13</td> <td>$103,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jena Gaines</td> <td>Office Manager</td> <td>London</td> <td>30</td> <td>2008/12/19</td> <td>$90,560</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Quinn Flynn</td> <td>Support Lead</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>22</td> <td>2013/03/03</td> <td>$342,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Charde Marshall</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>36</td> <td>2008/10/16</td> <td>$470,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Haley Kennedy</td> <td>Senior Marketing Designer</td> <td>London</td> <td>43</td> <td>2012/12/18</td> <td>$313,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tatyana Fitzpatrick</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>London</td> <td>19</td> <td>2010/03/17</td> <td>$385,750</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Michael Silva</td> <td>Marketing Designer</td> <td>London</td> <td>66</td> <td>2012/11/27</td> <td>$198,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Paul Byrd</td> <td>Chief Financial Officer (CFO)</td> <td>New York</td> <td>64</td> <td>2010/06/09</td> <td>$725,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gloria Little</td> <td>Systems Administrator</td> <td>New York</td> <td>59</td> <td>2009/04/10</td> <td>$237,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bradley Greer</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>London</td> <td>41</td> <td>2012/10/13</td> <td>$132,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Dai Rios</td> <td>Personnel Lead</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>35</td> <td>2012/09/26</td> <td>$217,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jenette Caldwell</td> <td>Development Lead</td> <td>New York</td> <td>30</td> <td>2011/09/03</td> <td>$345,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Yuri Berry</td> <td>Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)</td> <td>New York</td> <td>40</td> <td>2009/06/25</td> <td>$675,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Caesar Vance</td> <td>Pre-Sales Support</td> <td>New York</td> <td>21</td> <td>2011/12/12</td> <td>$106,450</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Doris Wilder</td> <td>Sales Assistant</td> <td>Sidney</td> <td>23</td> <td>2010/09/20</td> <td>$85,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Angelica Ramos</td> <td>Chief Executive Officer (CEO)</td> <td>London</td> <td>47</td> <td>2009/10/09</td> <td>$1,200,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gavin Joyce</td> <td>Developer</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>42</td> <td>2010/12/22</td> <td>$92,575</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jennifer Chang</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>Singapore</td> <td>28</td> <td>2010/11/14</td> <td>$357,650</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Brenden Wagner</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>28</td> <td>2011/06/07</td> <td>$206,850</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Fiona Green</td> <td>Chief Operating Officer (COO)</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>48</td> <td>2010/03/11</td> <td>$850,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Shou Itou</td> <td>Regional Marketing</td> <td>Tokyo</td> <td>20</td> <td>2011/08/14</td> <td>$163,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Michelle House</td> <td>Integration Specialist</td> <td>Sidney</td> <td>37</td> <td>2011/06/02</td> <td>$95,400</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Suki Burks</td> <td>Developer</td> <td>London</td> <td>53</td> <td>2009/10/22</td> <td>$114,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Prescott Bartlett</td> <td>Technical Author</td> <td>London</td> <td>27</td> <td>2011/05/07</td> <td>$145,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gavin Cortez</td> <td>Team Leader</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>22</td> <td>2008/10/26</td> <td>$235,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Martena Mccray</td> <td>Post-Sales support</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>46</td> <td>2011/03/09</td> <td>$324,050</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Unity Butler</td> <td>Marketing Designer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>47</td> <td>2009/12/09</td> <td>$85,675</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Howard Hatfield</td> <td>Office Manager</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>51</td> <td>2008/12/16</td> <td>$164,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hope Fuentes</td> <td>Secretary</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>41</td> <td>2010/02/12</td> <td>$109,850</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Vivian Harrell</td> <td>Financial Controller</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>62</td> <td>2009/02/14</td> <td>$452,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Timothy Mooney</td> <td>Office Manager</td> <td>London</td> <td>37</td> <td>2008/12/11</td> <td>$136,200</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jackson Bradshaw</td> <td>Director</td> <td>New York</td> <td>65</td> <td>2008/09/26</td> <td>$645,750</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Olivia Liang</td> <td>Support Engineer</td> <td>Singapore</td> <td>64</td> <td>2011/02/03</td> <td>$234,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bruno Nash</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>London</td> <td>38</td> <td>2011/05/03</td> <td>$163,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sakura Yamamoto</td> <td>Support Engineer</td> <td>Tokyo</td> <td>37</td> <td>2009/08/19</td> <td>$139,575</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Thor Walton</td> <td>Developer</td> <td>New York</td> <td>61</td> <td>2013/08/11</td> <td>$98,540</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Finn Camacho</td> <td>Support Engineer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>47</td> <td>2009/07/07</td> <td>$87,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Serge Baldwin</td> <td>Data Coordinator</td> <td>Singapore</td> <td>64</td> <td>2012/04/09</td> <td>$138,575</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Zenaida Frank</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>New York</td> <td>63</td> <td>2010/01/04</td> <td>$125,250</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Zorita Serrano</td> <td>Software Engineer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>56</td> <td>2012/06/01</td> <td>$115,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jennifer Acosta</td> <td>Junior Javascript Developer</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>43</td> <td>2013/02/01</td> <td>$75,650</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cara Stevens</td> <td>Sales Assistant</td> <td>New York</td> <td>46</td> <td>2011/12/06</td> <td>$145,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hermione Butler</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>London</td> <td>47</td> <td>2011/03/21</td> <td>$356,250</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lael Greer</td> <td>Systems Administrator</td> <td>London</td> <td>21</td> <td>2009/02/27</td> <td>$103,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jonas Alexander</td> <td>Developer</td> <td>San Francisco</td> <td>30</td> <td>2010/07/14</td> <td>$86,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Shad Decker</td> <td>Regional Director</td> <td>Edinburgh</td> <td>51</td> <td>2008/11/13</td> <td>$183,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Michael Bruce</td> <td>Javascript Developer</td> <td>Singapore</td> <td>29</td> <td>2011/06/27</td> <td>$183,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Donna Snider</td> <td>Customer Support</td> <td>New York</td> <td>27</td> <td>2011/01/25</td> <td>$112,000</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

Answer 2

You must split the office strings and build the unique list your self :

var offices = []; 
column.data().toArray().forEach(function(s) {
  s = s.split(',');
  s.forEach(function(d) {
    if (!~offices.indexOf(d)) {
      offices.push(d);
      select.append('<option value="' + d + '">' + d + '</option>');                                  
    }
  })
})    

And change your search back to default, you no longer need a regex match

column.search(val).draw()

demo -> http://jsfiddle.net/m1Ly9uxf/