How to search for Page URLs with parameters

The Matomo search fields support basic regular expression (regex) syntax. This means that some characters such as ?, +, *, [ are treated differently by default.

To search for URLs containing these characters as plain text, you must escape them using a backslash (\). This does not apply to regular letters, numbers, or most punctuation and characters such as ., /, -, =, _.

1. In Matomo, go to Behaviour > Pages > Page URLs.
2. Click the search icon above the report table.
3. Type your query with escaped characters, e.g. /product.html\?product=101.
   
4. Press Enter to filter the results.

Specific characters such as the ampersand (&) may still prevent results from appearing, so try simplifying the search query and remove the portion containing the special character. If escaping special characters doesn’t work or results are missing:

• Search for a smaller part of the URL instead of the full string.
• If the Page URL is difficult to match due to special characters, check if the page has a recognisable title under Behaviour > Pages > Page titles.
• Use the Export option to download the full Page URLs report as a CSV or TSV file. Then search for the full URL using your text editor or spreadsheet.
• If you’re trying to filter reports by users who visited a specific URL, consider creating a custom Segment instead of relying on search alone.

While Matomo’s search supports partial matches and basic regex, results may vary depending on the characters used. Learn more about How to search in reports and analysing Page Analytics reports.