diff --git a/base.php b/base.php
index 36b3866..0592998 100644
--- a/base.php
+++ b/base.php
@@ -453,14 +453,19 @@ function matches_comparing_expression($expr, $text) {
 			} else if (strpos($t, 'contains ') === 0) {
 				$w = substr($t, strlen('contains')+1);
 				$w = trim(trim($w, '"'));
-				$contains = strpos($text, normalize_for_search($w)) !== false;
+				$contains = strpos(' '.$text.' ',
+					' '.normalize_for_search($w).' ') !== false;
 				$result = str_replace($t, $contains ? 'true' : 'false', $result);
 			}
 		}
 	}
 	$result = str_replace('OR', '|', $result);
 	$result = str_replace('AND', '&', $result);
-	eval('$result = '.$result.';');
+	try {
+		eval('$result = '.$result.';');
+	} catch (\Throwable $e) {
+		return apiresult(['error' => 'Query contains errors, please correct it and try again.']);
+	}
 	return in_array($result, [0,false]) ? false : true;
 }
 
diff --git a/views/instance.php b/views/instance.php
index fd36f0a..b6d317b 100644
--- a/views/instance.php
+++ b/views/instance.php
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ window.view.instance = {
 				http.get(`api/v1/database/${hargs.software}/accounts/search?${payload}&paging=${page},${items_per_page}`, data, function(js) {
 					if (js === undefined) return toast.error('Could not process the query result');
 					if (js.ok !== undefined) return toast.info(js.ok);
+					if (js.error !== undefined) return toast.error(js.error);
 					E.template('users-all', function(TPL) {
 						var html = '';
 						for (var i = 0; i < js['data'].length; i++) {