Prevent more lookup expressions in filterset items from "disabling" url filtering #988

New Issue

MrUnknownDE · 2026-04-05T19:30:39+02:00

MrUnknownDE commented

2026-04-05 19:30:39 +02:00

Originally created by @mwobst on 10/24/2025

NetBox version

v4.4.1

Feature type

Change to existing functionality

Proposed functionality

Might also be a bug, but that form is not really fitting … no real textarea for explaining stuff.

Anyway, the headline could be confusing. As an example the RackTypeFilterSet. In serial = MultiValueCharFilter(lookup_expr='iexact'), modify the value of lookup_expr to icontains. Now you could search for a rack with ?serial=ABCDEF by using ?serial=bcd in the URL. But serial__ie=abcdef won’t work. In fact, that search part is ignored altogether.

Same with NumberFilter. Take RackTypeFilterSet, starting_unit. Add lookup_expr='lte' to starting_unit = django_filters.NumberFilter(). Now ?starting_unit=3 will include rack types with starting unit = 3 or lower, but ?starting_unit__gte=3 is simply ignored; all racks are displayed.

Reason

in netbox/filtersets.py, the following is defined:

STANDARD_LOOKUPS = (
    'exact',
    'iexact',
    'in',
    'contains',
)

Later in the code, this tuple is used to force an early return out of a method if the used lookup expression is not in the tuple which seems to prevent any URL filtering with stuff like __ie and so on. 'contains' has been added quite recently, probably due the "Loose Filtering" of custom fields.

Proposal

I would like to add at least the following items:

'icontains'
'startswith'
'istartswith'
'endswith'
'iendswith'
'regex'
'iregex'
'gt'
'gte'
'lt'
'lte'

That change is as simple as it can get and it shouldn’t™ break or even change anything at all. If anything, it simply allows plugin developers a little bit more freedom. I can submit a PR myself, if this proposal is okay.

(And I’m aware that this is quite specific and probably occurs very rarely, but still … it seems unnecesarily limitting)

Use case

Have a filterset field that shall use 'icontains' as a lookup expression, but you still want to use the iexact search. NetBox in its core doesn’t seem to do this. There is the general search (?q=…) that usually applies icontains, and then there are a multitude of specific search that require the (i)exact values.

Of course one could say: Just use the URL, but that is more cumbersome for GUI users.

Database changes

None at all.

External dependencies

None

*Originally created by @mwobst on 10/24/2025* ### NetBox version v4.4.1 ### Feature type Change to existing functionality ### Proposed functionality Might also be a bug, but that form is not really fitting … no real textarea for explaining stuff. Anyway, the headline could be confusing. As an example the RackTypeFilterSet. In `serial = MultiValueCharFilter(lookup_expr='iexact')`, modify the value of `lookup_expr` to `icontains`. Now you could search for a rack with `?serial=ABCDEF` by using ?serial=bcd in the URL. But `serial__ie=abcdef` won’t work. In fact, that search part is ignored altogether. Same with NumberFilter. Take RackTypeFilterSet, starting_unit. Add `lookup_expr='lte'` to `starting_unit = django_filters.NumberFilter()`. Now `?starting_unit=3` will include rack types with starting unit = 3 or lower, but `?starting_unit__gte=3` is simply ignored; all racks are displayed. **Reason** in netbox/filtersets.py, the following is defined: ``` STANDARD_LOOKUPS = ( 'exact', 'iexact', 'in', 'contains', ) ``` Later in the code, this tuple is used to force an early return out of a method if the used lookup expression is not in the tuple which seems to prevent any URL filtering with stuff like `__ie` and so on. 'contains' has been added quite recently, probably due the "Loose Filtering" of custom fields. **Proposal** I would like to add at least the following items: - 'icontains' - 'startswith' - 'istartswith' - 'endswith' - 'iendswith' - 'regex' - 'iregex' - 'gt' - 'gte' - 'lt' - 'lte' That change is as simple as it can get and it shouldn’t™ break or even change anything at all. If anything, it simply allows plugin developers a little bit more freedom. I can submit a PR myself, if this proposal is okay. (And I’m aware that this is quite specific and probably occurs very rarely, but still … it seems unnecesarily limitting) ### Use case Have a filterset field that shall use 'icontains' as a lookup expression, but you still want to use the iexact search. NetBox in its core doesn’t seem to do this. There is the general search (?q=…) that usually applies icontains, and then there are a multitude of specific search that require the (i)exact values. Of course one could say: Just use the URL, but that is more cumbersome for GUI users. ### Database changes None at all. ### External dependencies None

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Reference: github/netbox#988