KB185629669: WebCenter - Error when searching using the forward slash character

Summary

In WebCenter 16.0 there is a bug with searching on the "/" character (forward slash).

If you are searching for a "/" character in one of the search fields, things are likely to go wrong.

Symptoms

There are a couple of ways this problem might surface.

• Error "Index searching error end-of-string expected at position ..." is shown.
  This is very likely caused by this issue. See workaround below.
  
  
• Error "The Search has failed. This could be due to invalid characters in the search parameters." is shown.
  This error is shown in a lot of situations.
  However, in WebCenter 16.0 (only that version) it might also be shown in case you are searching for a "/" character.

If you are in one of these two situations, have a look at the workaround below to resolve the issue.

Solution

There is currently no solution available for WebCenter 16.0, but there are some workarounds available.

However this issue has been fixed in WebCenter 16.1.

Workarounds

Depending on what is easier, you could do one of the following:

• Remove the "/" character from the search query.
• Enable "Advanced search characters" and add a "\" in front of the "/" character.
• You can also add " " (quotes) around the full query. This works quite well when you are simply pasting the full name of a project, for example the keyword search.
• If the error occurred because you are searching for "Me Or Group I Am In", remove the "/" from all the group/user names.
• Upgrade to WebCenter 16.1.