diff --git a/web/react/components/search_bar.jsx b/web/react/components/search_bar.jsx
index fae26f8037..0da43e8cdd 100644
--- a/web/react/components/search_bar.jsx
+++ b/web/react/components/search_bar.jsx
@@ -106,11 +106,14 @@ export default class SearchBar extends React.Component {
         if (terms.length) {
             this.setState({isSearching: true});
 
-            if(terms.search(/\*\s*$/) == -1) // append * if not present
-                terms = terms + "*";
+            // append * if not present
+            let searchTerms = terms;
+            if (searchTerms.search(/\*\s*$/) === -1) {
+                searchTerms = searchTerms + '*';
+            }
 
             client.search(
-                terms,
+                searchTerms,
                 (data) => {
                     this.setState({isSearching: false});
                     if (utils.isMobile()) {
diff --git a/web/react/utils/text_formatting.jsx b/web/react/utils/text_formatting.jsx
index 75f6cb714a..204c373644 100644
--- a/web/react/utils/text_formatting.jsx
+++ b/web/react/utils/text_formatting.jsx
@@ -243,11 +243,10 @@ function autolinkHashtags(text, tokens) {
 
 function highlightSearchTerm(text, tokens, searchTerm) {
     let output = text;
-    searchTerm = searchTerm.replace(/\*$/, '');
 
     var newTokens = new Map();
     for (const [alias, token] of tokens) {
-        if (token.originalText.indexOf(searchTerm) > -1) {
+        if (token.originalText.indexOf(searchTerm.replace(/\*$/, '')) > -1) {
             const index = tokens.size + newTokens.size;
             const newAlias = `MM_SEARCHTERM${index}`;
 
@@ -277,7 +276,7 @@ function highlightSearchTerm(text, tokens, searchTerm) {
         return prefix + alias;
     }
 
-   return output.replace(new RegExp(`()(${searchTerm})`, 'gi'), replaceSearchTermWithToken);
+    return output.replace(new RegExp(`()(${searchTerm})`, 'gi'), replaceSearchTermWithToken);
 }
 
 function replaceTokens(text, tokens) {