Smart Inventory - Searching on host variables using a regex returns wrong results

[mrik974]

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• I agree to follow this project's code of conduct.
• I have checked the current issues for duplicates.
• I understand that AWX is open source software provided for free and that I might not receive a timely response.
• I am NOT reporting a (potential) security vulnerability. (These should be emailed to security@ansible.com instead.)

Bug Summary

All my hosts in my inventory have this variable hds (french acronym for health data hosting service). Its value is either true or false.
I have to create two smart inventories, one listing all hds: true hosts and one listing the hds: false ones.

This is the weird part. When I use host.variables__regex=^.*hds.*true.*$ I, as I expect, get all the hds hosts. But...
When I use host.variables__regex=^.*hds.*false.*$ I don't get the non hds hosts. Instead I get the full list of hosts available in my inventory.
My workaround at the moment is to use host.not__variables__regex=^.*hds.*true.*$. But I thought it would be a good bug to report.

AWX version

22.1.0

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• UI
• UI (tech preview)
• API
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Installation method

minikube

Modifications

no

Ansible version

No response

Operating system

No response

Web browser

No response

Steps to reproduce

Have a list of hosts, all with a variable hds set to true or false (boolean, not strings)
Create a smart inventory and try to filter the hds: false with this filter : host.variables__regex=^.*hds.*false.*$

Expected results

The hosts should only have the hosts set withhds: false

Actual results

All hosts are listed, like if no filter was set, even the ones with hds: true.

Additional information

The other way around (host.variables__regex=^.*hds.*true.*$) works as expected

[jessicamack]

Hello @mrik974 you can find more assistance for this issue on the forum https://forum.ansible.com/tag/awx.

Smart inventory has a different language than the regex filter you're using.

Your regex filter will match a lot more than you think. Please include the full host vars that you're using in your post to the forum.

[mrik974]

Thanks for your answer. I clearly assumed the regex engine here and was in the wrong. I'm closing this.