diff --git a/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.service.js b/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.service.js
index fe683c08d7..48681b1e0d 100644
--- a/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.service.js
+++ b/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.service.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 export default [function() {
     return {
         splitSearchIntoTerms(searchString) {
-            return searchString.match(/(?:[^\s("')]+|"[^"]*"|'[^']*')+/g);
+            return searchString.match(/(?:[^\s"']+|"[^"]*"|'[^']*')+/g);
         },
         splitTermIntoParts(searchTerm) {
             let breakOnColon = searchTerm.match(/(?:[^:"]+|"[^"]*")+/g);
diff --git a/awx/ui/tests/spec/smart-search/smart-search.service-test.js b/awx/ui/tests/spec/smart-search/smart-search.service-test.js
index d5c35a08c2..0170a6d9ff 100644
--- a/awx/ui/tests/spec/smart-search/smart-search.service-test.js
+++ b/awx/ui/tests/spec/smart-search/smart-search.service-test.js
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ describe('Service: SmartSearch', () => {
             expect(SmartSearchService.splitSearchIntoTerms('name:\'foo bar\'       description:\'bar foo\'')).toEqual(["name:\'foo bar\'", "description:\'bar foo\'"]);
             expect(SmartSearchService.splitSearchIntoTerms('name:\"foo bar\" description:\'bar foo\'')).toEqual(["name:\"foo bar\"", "description:\'bar foo\'"]);
             expect(SmartSearchService.splitSearchIntoTerms('name:\"foo bar\" foo')).toEqual(["name:\"foo bar\"", "foo"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitSearchIntoTerms('inventory:¯\_(ツ)_/¯')).toEqual(["inventory:¯\_(ツ)_/¯"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitSearchIntoTerms('inventory:¯\_(ツ)_/¯ inventory.name:¯\_(ツ)_/¯')).toEqual(["inventory:¯\_(ツ)_/¯", "inventory.name:¯\_(ツ)_/¯"]);
         });
     });