---
title: Job description regex filters are now case-sensitive
description: Regex patterns in job description filters now match case-sensitively by default. Add (?i) at the start of any pattern to restore case-insensitive matching.
url: https://theirstack.com/en/product-updates/2026-04-21-job-description-case-sensitive-regex
---

**What changed:** Regex patterns in job description filters (`job_description_pattern`, `job_description_pattern_and`, `job_description_pattern_not`) are now **case-sensitive** by default. Previously, all patterns matched case-insensitively.

**Why:** Case-sensitive matching gives you more control. You can now distinguish between acronyms like "AI" and words like "aid", or match "React" without catching "react" in unrelated contexts.

**What to do if you need case-insensitive matching:** Add the `(?i)` flag at the beginning of your pattern. Everything works exactly as before — you just need to opt in explicitly.

#### Examples

| Before (case-insensitive by default) | Now (add `(?i)` for case-insensitive) |
| --- | --- |
| `\bpython\b` | `(?i)\bpython\b` |
| `\bML.?Ops\b` | `(?i)\bML.?Ops\b` |
| `data engineer|data scientist` | `(?i)data engineer|data scientist` |

Without `(?i)`, `\bpython\b` now only matches "python" in lowercase — it will not match "Python" or "PYTHON". With `(?i)`, it matches all three, just like before.

#### API example

```
{
  "job_description_pattern_and": [
    "(?i)\\bpython\\b",
    "(?i)\\bML.?Ops\\b"
  ]
}
```

The `(?i)` flag works on all regex-based job description filters in the [Jobs API](/en/job-posting-api) and [Company Search API](/en/docs/api-reference/companies/search_companies_v1), as well as in the app UI.