 <p>I feel you might be over thinking it; If I'm understanding what you want to do then all you should need in your filter is:</p> <pre><code>ng-repeat="option in DefComList | filter: require : true" </code></pre> <p>Note the true for exact matching as your search for 'MUST' would also match 'noMUST'.</p> <p>Here is a quick fiddle I put together for you: <a href="https://jsfiddle.net/nqya24r4/" rel="nofollow">https://jsfiddle.net/nqya24r4/</a></p> <p>Also if you specifically only want to search the Req property, you can filter using an object instead of a string. Here's another fiddle demonstrating this: <a href="https://jsfiddle.net/t3bw5L5d/2/" rel="nofollow">https://jsfiddle.net/t3bw5L5d/2/</a></p> <p>I hope this helps.</p>