Filtering item starting with [TEST]

Question

Hi all,

I'm trying to filter a list of item to remove the item starting by [TEST] but it doesn't work. I have read that "[" is not liked character by Jira. I should be using "/"[ but it still doesn't work

C.Faysal {CFcon} · Answer

Just to add a native option: since square brackets genuinely aren't indexed in JQL, one clean long-term fix is replacing the [TEST] prefix with a label instead. Labels are fully indexed and you'd get a simple: project = XYZ AND label != TEST If changing the naming convention isn't an option, Bartek's regex approach via ARGON is probably your best bet.

Bartek Szajkowski _ Orbiscend OU · Answer

Good morning @Benjamin Houard

Hope my answer meets you well.
I'm Bartek from Orbiscend OU.

If you are open for third-party app, I would like to recommend to check ARGON - Powerful JQL Search tool. Argon's regex function can solve this!

Since JQL struggles with square brackets, regex lets you match the literal [TEST] pattern cleanly.

Why Regex Works Here

The regex function in Argon handles special characters through its own pattern syntax. To match a literal [, you simply put it inside a character class or escape it — but the key is that you use [[] to match a literal square bracket in regex.

Examples:
Show only issues starting with [TEST]:

issue in regex("project = DEV", "summary", "^[[]TEST[]]")

Exclude issues starting with [TEST}:

issue not in regex("project = DEV", "summary", "^[[]TEST[]]")

Pattern Breakdown:

^         Start of the summary

[[]        Literal [ character

TEST   The text you want to match

[]]        Literal ] character

Our app you can find here:

ARGON Powerful JQL Search

I hope you will find the above solution useful
Greetings
Bartek from Orbiscend OU

Salih Tuç · Answer

Hi @Benjamin Houard ,

The special characters such as square brackets and math operations are not indexed for search in Jira, so even if you can include them somehow (i.e with "\"); they will be ignored. You can find more details in here:

In general, non-alphanumeric characters, such as + . , * / % ^ $ # @ [ ], aren't indexed for search and are ignored in queries. Exceptions include email addresses and URLs.

When building queries, make sure to surround phrases with special characters or spaces with single ' or double " quotation marks, for example: field ~ "email@atlassian.com". Additionally, some characters may need to be preceded by two backslashes \, for example, field ~ "\(text".