Search string that does not contain '---'

Question

I have a custom string field (summary) for my issues and would like to create a search that would show all issues where this field does not start with '---'.

I've tried the following:

summary !~ "---" - Unable to parse the text '---' for field 'summary'.

summary !~ "\-\-\-" - Error in the JQL Query: '\-' is an illegal JQL escape sequence.

summary !~ "\-\-\-" - still shows all results

I'm guessing this is because '-' is a special character, which I can't escape for some reason; could someone point me in the right direction?

Jira version is  6.4.12

Thanks

Roman Tarakanov · Answer

yeah, I've found that page and also this one:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/jiracoreserver073/search-syntax-for-text-fields-861257223.html

Their example (present in both pages) simply does not work

summary ~ "$$example$$"

is actually equivalent to

summary ~ "example"

which does not work for me at all :(

I guess they strip all the non alphanumeric characters from the search when ~ operator is used, ie there is no way to do what I want

[Edit] This is actually a known bug - JRASERVER-66244

Randy_dyxb6i · Answer

Restricted words and characters are listed here:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/jiracoreserver073/advanced-searching-861257209.html#Advancedsearching-restrictionsRestrictedwordsandcharacters

You'll notice that there's no mention of "-" since it falls outside of the list of restricted characters and accepted characters (if it were officially restricted, you'd be able to escape to search on it)

Roman Tarakanov · Answer

Is there a list of special characters that cannot be used in the search?

So far I've tried '~', '@', '#', '$', '%', '^', '&', '-', '+', '=' none of which work