Bug 510149

Summary: Regression: Dolphin file search surrounds terms with double quotes for Baloo searches
Product: [Applications] dolphin Reporter: honpar94
Component: searchAssignee: Dolphin Bug Assignee <dolphin-bugs-null>
Status: CONFIRMED ---    
Severity: normal CC: dolphin-bugs-null, kdedev, tagwerk19
Priority: NOR Keywords: regression
Version First Reported In: 25.08.1   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: CachyOS   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description honpar94 2025-10-02 02:46:39 UTC 
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SUMMARY
When Baloo is enabled, Dolphin's file search automatically surrounds search terms with double quotes, causing issues withe file searching.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Enable Baloo
2. Enable file indexing
3. Search multiple keywords in Dolphin search

https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/1nv1paj/why_is_dolphins_filename_search_not_working_as_i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

OBSERVED RESULT
Search results are as if `baloosearch6` were run with keywords surrounded by double quotes.
For example, searching `tutorial shading` in Dolphin runs `baloosearch6 "tutorial shading"`. This results in fewer results than expected, since only files with the keywords in that exact order are returned.

EXPECTED RESULT
Expected results as if search were performed without quotes, e.g. `baloosearch6 tutorial shading` in the above example.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Windows: 
macOS: 
(available in the Info Center app, or by running `kinfo` in a terminal window)
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
KDE Plasma Version: 
KDE Frameworks Version: 
Qt Version: 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Comment 1 TraceyC 2025-10-09 00:35:59 UTC 
It looks like the behavior has changed in git-master for baloo6, but I can reproduce the bug as described in Dolphin

I created a few test files with unique names

"blinm simnhg"
"simnh blinm"
"blinmsimnh"

On command line I performed a search with and without quotes

 ~/test baloosearch6 simnh blinm
/home/tracey/test/blinm simnh
/home/tracey/test/simnh blinm
Elapsed: 0.298213 msecs

 ~/test  baloosearch6 "simnh blinm"
/home/tracey/test/blinm simnh
/home/tracey/test/simnh blinm
Elapsed: 0.298043 msecs

So the quotes don't affect the search on command line, and I get the results I expected.

In Dolphin, I see all 3 test files returned when I search for "simn" - OK
Searching for "simn blin" however, produces no results. The results should return the same 3 files.
Searching for "simnh blin" produces one file, rather than all three.
Comment 2 tagwerk19 2025-10-14 09:03:37 UTC 
(In reply to TraceyC from comment #1)
> ... So the quotes don't affect the search on command line ...
You might be being ambushed by the shell
I would have said that if you want to search for a phrase, you quote it, so:
(In reply to TraceyC from comment #1)
>  ~/test  baloosearch6 "simnh blinm"
> /home/tracey/test/blinm simnh
> /home/tracey/test/simnh blinm
> Elapsed: 0.298043 msecs
*Ought* to give you just:
> /home/tracey/test/simnh blinm
But I suspect the shell has eaten the quotes. You could try quoting the quotes:
    ~/test  baloosearch6 \"simnh blinm\"
or
    ~/test  baloosearch6 '"simnh blinm"'
I think Baloo is doing what it should and it does look like Dolphin is passing a quoted string to it, whereas it didn't before.

I will be a bit adventurous and flag this as a regression (done my testing on Neon Unstable, Plasma 6.5.80, Frameworks 6.20.0)
Comment 3 TraceyC 2025-10-14 22:30:13 UTC 
(In reply to tagwerk19 from comment #2)

Either way of escaping the quotes results in an error and only one match, the same thing I got when using quotes in Dolphin

baloosearch6 '"simnh blinm"' 
kf.baloo.engine: PositionDB::iter "simnh" MDB_NOTFOUND: No matching key/data pair found
/home/tracey/test/simnh blinm


> I will be a bit adventurous and flag this as a regression (done my testing
> on Neon Unstable, Plasma 6.5.80, Frameworks 6.20.0)

That would be useful, thanks!
Comment 4 tagwerk19 2025-10-14 22:54:17 UTC 
(In reply to TraceyC from comment #3)
> kf.baloo.engine: PositionDB::iter "simnh" MDB_NOTFOUND: No matching key/data pair found
I suspect you have a
    ~/.config/QtProject/qtlogging.ini
file containing something like:
    [rules]
    ...
    kf.baloo.*=true
    ...
in it.

I have seen the diagnostic and not known whether to worry about it. I'm guessing here Baloo's fund "simnh" when looking for the filename but not found it in the content index.
Comment 5 TraceyC 2025-10-15 16:10:20 UTC 
(In reply to tagwerk19 from comment #4)
> I suspect you have a
>     ~/.config/QtProject/qtlogging.ini
> file containing something like:
>     [rules]
>     ...
>     kf.baloo.*=true
>     ...
> in it.

That file is on the system, but doesn't have that line. That's fine, at this point the developers should have enough information to investigate further.