diff --git a/src/search_filter/explicit_filter.py b/src/search_filter/explicit_filter.py
index 09580e4a..797c007d 100644
--- a/src/search_filter/explicit_filter.py
+++ b/src/search_filter/explicit_filter.py
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
 class ExplicitFilter:
+    # Filter Regex
+    required_regex = r'\+([^\s]+) ?'
+    blocked_regex = r'\-([^\s]+) ?'
+
     def __init__(self, filter_directory, search_type: SearchType, entry_key='raw'):
         self.filter_file = resolve_absolute_path(filter_directory / f"{search_type.name.lower()}_explicit_filter_entry_word_sets.pkl")
         self.entry_key = entry_key
@@ -58,11 +62,13 @@ class ExplicitFilter:
         "Find entries containing required and not blocked words specified in query"
         # Separate natural query from explicit required, blocked words filters
         start = time.time()
-        query = " ".join([word for word in raw_query.split() if not word.startswith("+") and not word.startswith("-")])
-        required_words = set([word[1:].lower() for word in raw_query.split() if word.startswith("+")])
-        blocked_words = set([word[1:].lower() for word in raw_query.split() if word.startswith("-")])
+
+        required_words = set([word.lower() for word in re.findall(self.required_regex, raw_query)])
+        blocked_words = set([word.lower() for word in re.findall(self.blocked_regex, raw_query)])
+        query = re.sub(self.blocked_regex, '', re.sub(self.required_regex, '', raw_query))
+
         end = time.time()
-        logger.debug(f"Time to extract required, blocked words: {end - start} seconds")
+        logger.debug(f"Extract required, blocked filters from query: {end - start} seconds")
 
         if len(required_words) == 0 and len(blocked_words) == 0:
             return query, entries, embeddings
@@ -86,7 +92,7 @@ class ExplicitFilter:
                 if words_in_entry.intersection(blocked_words):
                     entries_to_exclude.add(id)
         end = time.time()
-        logger.debug(f"Mark entries to filter: {end - start} seconds")
+        logger.debug(f"Mark entries not satisfying filter: {end - start} seconds")
 
         # delete entries (and their embeddings) marked for exclusion
         start = time.time()
@@ -94,6 +100,6 @@ class ExplicitFilter:
             del entries[id]
             embeddings = torch.cat((embeddings[:id], embeddings[id+1:]))
         end = time.time()
-        logger.debug(f"Remove entries to filter from embeddings: {end - start} seconds")
+        logger.debug(f"Delete entries not satisfying filter: {end - start} seconds")
 
         return query, entries, embeddings