jQuery DataTables - Filter column by exact match

Ok solved the problem. However, since the column I am using the exact match on sometimes contains multiple ID #s seperated by commas, I wont be able to use an exact match search.

But for those interested, here is the answer:

oTable.fnFilter( "^"+TERM+"$", COLUMN , true); //Term, Column #, RegExp Filter

You can use regular expression for exact matching as following:

var table = $('#dt').DataTable();

$('#column3_search').on('keyup', function () {
    // Note: column() accepts zero-based index meaning the index of first column is 0, second column is 1 and so on.
    // We use `2` here as we are accessing 3rd column whose index is 2.
    table.column(2)
         .search("^" + this.value + "$", true, false, true)
         .draw();
});

The syntax of the search function is:

search(input, regex, smart_search, case_insensitive)

We disable smart search in this case because search function uses regular expression internally when smart search is set to true. Otherwise, this creates conflict between our regular expression and the one that is used by search function.

For more information, check out the following documentation from DataTable:

column().search()

Hope it's helpful!

$(document).ready( function() {
    $('#example').dataTable( {
        "oSearch": {"bSmart": false}
    } );
} )

Try using the bSmart option and setting it to false

From the documentation

"When "bSmart" DataTables will use it's smart filtering methods (to word match at any point in the data), when false this will not be done."

UPDATE

I found this:

oSettings.aoPreSearchCols[ iCol ].sSearch = "^\\s*"+'1'+"\\s*$";
oSettings.aoPreSearchCols[ iCol ].bRegex = false;
oSettings.aoPreSearchCols[ iCol ].bSmart= false;

at this link http://www.datatables.net/forums/discussion/4096/filtering-an-exact-match/p1

looks like you can set bSmart and bRegex per column as well as specifying a manual regex per column.

This will give you exact result for a column.

 table.column(i)
 .search("^" + $(this).val() + "$", true, false, true)
 .draw();

ie . search( input , regex, smart , caseInsen )