# Filter datatable with different Syntax

**URL:** <https://community.plotly.com/t/filter-datatable-with-different-syntax/17542>\
**Category:** Dash Python\
**Created:** [January 2, 2019, 10:56am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/filter-datatable-with-different-syntax/17542 "2019-01-02T10:56:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a88e4f/32.png) [@nst](https://community.plotly.com/u/nst)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 10:56am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/filter-datatable-with-different-syntax/17542/1 "2019-01-02T10:56:53Z")

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I’m trying to use the built-in filtering function for the dash datatables, but I find the syntax not very user friendly, specifically I don’t like the fact that users need to write “eq foo” when they want to filter by string “foo”, I think intuitively most people would just type “foo”. Is there any way to adjust this syntax? I tried to do it with backend-filtering as well like in the [docs](https://dash.plot.ly/datatable/callbacks), but the things I typed wouldn’t even show up in the “filtering\_settings” input, unless they already matched this syntax and used “eq”

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**Author:** ![jordang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@jordang](https://community.plotly.com/u/jordang)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/filter-datatable-with-different-syntax/17542/2 "2019-02-27T16:09:01Z")

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I agree that it is not user friendly and would also like to know if anyone else has found a workaround? If I find a solution I’ll be sure to share here.