Preamble

Filtering a table is one of the most common user interactions with a DataTables table, and DataTables provides a number of methods for you to control this interaction. There is a global filter, and a filter for each individual column. The global filter acts on each column.

Each filter (global or column) can be marked as a regular expression (allowing you to create very complex interactions) and as a smart filter or not. When smart filtering is enabled on a particular filter, DataTables will modify the user input string to a complex regular expression which can make filtering more intuitive.

This example allows you to "play" with the various filtering options that DataTables provides.

Live example

Target	Filter text	Treat as regex	Use smart filter
Global filtering
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
Column 4
Column 5

Initialisation code

function fnFilterGlobal ()
{
	$('#example').dataTable().fnFilter( 
		$("#global_filter").val(),
		null, 
		$("#global_regex")[0].checked, 
		$("#global_smart")[0].checked
	);
}

function fnFilterColumn ( i )
{
	$('#example').dataTable().fnFilter( 
		$("#col"+(i+1)+"_filter").val(),
		i, 
		$("#col"+(i+1)+"_regex")[0].checked, 
		$("#col"+(i+1)+"_smart")[0].checked
	);
}

$(document).ready(function() {
	$('#example').dataTable();
	
	$("#global_filter").keyup( fnFilterGlobal );
	$("#global_regex").click( fnFilterGlobal );
	$("#global_smart").click( fnFilterGlobal );
	
	$("#col1_filter").keyup( function() { fnFilterColumn( 0 ); } );
	$("#col1_regex").click(  function() { fnFilterColumn( 0 ); } );
	$("#col1_smart").click(  function() { fnFilterColumn( 0 ); } );
	
	// ... etc for the other four columns
} );

Other examples

Basic initialisation

• Zero configuration
• Feature enablement
• Sorting data
• Multi-column sorting
• Multiple tables
• Hidden columns
• DOM positioning
• State saving
• Alternative pagination styles
• Scrolling: Horizontal / Vertical / Both / Themed
• Change language information (internationalisation)
• ThemeRoller themes (Smoothness)

Advanced initialisation

• Events (pre initialisation)
• Events (post initialisation)
• Column rendering
• Sorting without HTML tags
• Multiple table controls (sDom)
• Defining length menu options
• Custom toolbar (element) around table
• Row highlighting with CSS
• Column grouping through col/row spans
• Row grouping
• Row callback
• Footer callback
• Change language information from a file (internationalisation)

Data sources

• DOM
• Javascript array
• Ajax source
• Server side processing

Server-side processing

• Obtain server-side data
• Add extra HTTP variables
• Use HTTP POST
• Custom column ordering (in callback data)
• Pipelining data (reduce Ajax calls for paging)
• Show and hide details about a particular record
• User selectable rows (multiple rows)

API

• Dynamically add a new row
• Individual column filtering (using "input" elements)
• Individual column filtering (using "select" elements)
• Highlight rows and columns
• Show and hide details about a particular record
• User selectable rows (multiple rows)
• User selectable rows (single row) and delete rows
• Editable rows (with jEditable)
• Submit form with elements in table
• Index column (static number column)
• Show and hide columns dynamically
• API function use in initialisation object (callback)
• DataTables scrolling and tabs
• Regular expression filtering

Plug-ins

• Add custom API functions
• Sorting and type detection
• Custom pagination controls
• Range filtering / custom filtering
• Live DOM sorting
• Automatic HTML type detection

Please refer to the DataTables documentation for full information about its API properties and methods.