diff --git a/catalog/src/query/query-adapter.hpp b/catalog/src/query/query-adapter.hpp
index c6391ef..2b85da5 100644
--- a/catalog/src/query/query-adapter.hpp
+++ b/catalog/src/query/query-adapter.hpp
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <array>
+#include <utility>
 
 namespace atmos {
 namespace query {
@@ -228,8 +229,8 @@
                          Json::Value& jsonValue);
 
   bool
-  json2CompleteSearchSql(std::stringstream& sqlQuery,
-                         Json::Value& jsonValue);
+  json2PrefixBasedSearchSql(std::stringstream& sqlQuery,
+                            Json::Value& jsonValue);
 
   ndn::Name
   getQueryResultsName(std::shared_ptr<const ndn::Interest> interest,
@@ -815,11 +816,11 @@
 
 template <typename DatabaseHandler>
 bool
-QueryAdapter<DatabaseHandler>::json2CompleteSearchSql(std::stringstream& sqlQuery,
-                                              Json::Value& jsonValue)
+QueryAdapter<DatabaseHandler>::json2PrefixBasedSearchSql(std::stringstream& sqlQuery,
+                                                         Json::Value& jsonValue)
 {
 #ifndef NDEBUG
-  std::cout << "jsonValue in json2CompleteSearchSql: " << jsonValue.toStyledString() << std::endl;
+  std::cout << "jsonValue in json2PrefixBasedSearchSql: " << jsonValue.toStyledString() << std::endl;
 #endif
   if (jsonValue.type() != Json::objectValue) {
     std::cout << jsonValue.toStyledString() << "is not json object" << std::endl;
@@ -846,10 +847,7 @@
 
     if (key.asString().compare("??") == 0) {
       typedString = value.asString();
-      // since the front end triggers the autocompletion when users typed '/',
-      // there must be a '/' at the end, and the first char must be '/'
-      if (typedString.empty() || typedString.at(typedString.length() - 1) != '/' ||
-          typedString.find("/") != 0)
+      if (typedString.empty() || typedString.find("/") != 0)
         return false;
       break;
     }
@@ -859,26 +857,34 @@
   size_t pos = 0;
   size_t start = 1; // start from the 1st char which is not '/'
   size_t count = 0; // also the name to query for
+  size_t typedStringLen = typedString.length();
   std::string token;
   std::string delimiter = "/";
-  std::map<std::string, std::string> typedComponents;
+  std::vector<std::pair<std::string, std::string>> typedComponents;
   while ((pos = typedString.find(delimiter, start)) != std::string::npos) {
     token = typedString.substr(start, pos - start);
-    if (count >= m_nameFields.size() - 1) {
+    if (count >= m_nameFields.size()) {
       return false;
     }
 
     // add column name and value (token) into map
-    typedComponents.insert(std::pair<std::string, std::string>(m_nameFields[count], token));
+    typedComponents.push_back(std::make_pair(m_nameFields[count], token));
+
     count++;
     start = pos + 1;
   }
 
+  // we may have a component after the last "/"
+  if (start < typedStringLen) {
+    typedComponents.push_back(std::make_pair(m_nameFields[count],
+                                             typedString.substr(start, typedStringLen - start)));
+  }
+
   // 2. generate the sql string (append what appears in the typed string, like activity='xxx'),
   // return true
   bool more = false;
   sqlQuery << "SELECT name FROM " << m_databaseTable;
-  for (std::map<std::string, std::string>::iterator it = typedComponents.begin();
+  for (std::vector<std::pair<std::string, std::string>>::iterator it = typedComponents.begin();
        it != typedComponents.end(); ++it) {
     if (more)
       sqlQuery << " AND";
@@ -977,7 +983,7 @@
     }
   }
   else if (parsedFromString.get("??", tmp) != tmp) {
-    if (!json2CompleteSearchSql(sqlQuery, parsedFromString)) {
+    if (!json2PrefixBasedSearchSql(sqlQuery, parsedFromString)) {
       sendNack(segmentPrefix);
       return;
     }
diff --git a/catalog/tests/unit-tests/query/test-query-adapter.cpp b/catalog/tests/unit-tests/query/test-query-adapter.cpp
index 568f5ad..b49ea03 100644
--- a/catalog/tests/unit-tests/query/test-query-adapter.cpp
+++ b/catalog/tests/unit-tests/query/test-query-adapter.cpp
@@ -164,10 +164,10 @@
     }
 
     bool
-    json2CompleteSearchSqlTest(std::stringstream& sqlQuery,
-                               Json::Value& jsonValue)
+    json2PrefixBasedSearchSqlTest(std::stringstream& sqlQuery,
+                                  Json::Value& jsonValue)
     {
-      return json2CompleteSearchSql(sqlQuery, jsonValue);
+      return json2PrefixBasedSearchSql(sqlQuery, jsonValue);
     }
   };
 
@@ -573,29 +573,39 @@
     BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(false, queryAdapterTest2.json2AutocompletionSqlTest(ss, testJson4));
 }
 
-  BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(QueryAdapterCompleteSearchSuccessTest)
+  BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(QueryAdapterPrefixBasedSearchSuccessTest)
   {
     initializeQueryAdapterTest2();
 
     std::stringstream ss;
     Json::Value testJson;
     testJson["??"] = "/";
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(true, queryAdapterTest2.json2CompleteSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson));
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(true, queryAdapterTest2.json2PrefixBasedSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson));
     BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL("SELECT name FROM cmip5;", ss.str());
 
     ss.str("");
     ss.clear();
     testJson.clear();
+    testJson["??"] = "/Activity/Product";
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(true, queryAdapterTest2.json2PrefixBasedSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson));
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL("SELECT name FROM cmip5 WHERE activity='Activity' AND product='Product';",
+                      ss.str());
+
+    ss.str("");
+    ss.clear();
+    testJson.clear();
     testJson["??"] = "/Activity/Product/Organization/Model/Experiment/Frequency/Modeling/\
-Variable/Ensemble/";
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(true, queryAdapterTest2.json2CompleteSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson));
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL("SELECT name FROM cmip5 WHERE activity='Activity' AND ensemble=\
-'Ensemble' AND experiment='Experiment' AND frequency='Frequency' AND model='Model' AND \
-modeling_realm='Modeling' AND organization='Organization' AND product='Product' AND variable_name=\
-'Variable';",ss.str());
+Variable/Ensemble/Time/";
+
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(true, queryAdapterTest2.json2PrefixBasedSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson));
+
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL("SELECT name FROM cmip5 WHERE activity='Activity' AND product='Product' \
+AND organization='Organization' AND model='Model' AND experiment='Experiment' AND frequency=\
+'Frequency' AND modeling_realm='Modeling' AND variable_name='Variable' AND ensemble='Ensemble'\
+ AND time='Time';", ss.str());
   }
 
-  BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(QueryAdapterCompleteSearchFailureTest)
+  BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(QueryAdapterPrefixBasedSearchFailureTest)
   {
     initializeQueryAdapterTest2();
 
@@ -606,19 +616,19 @@
     ss.clear();
     testJson.clear();
     testJson["??"] = "";
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(false, queryAdapterTest2.json2CompleteSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson));
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(false, queryAdapterTest2.json2PrefixBasedSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson));
 
     ss.str("");
     ss.clear();
     Json::Value testJson2; //simply clear does not work
     testJson2[0] = "test"; // incorrect json object
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(false, queryAdapterTest2.json2CompleteSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson2));
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(false, queryAdapterTest2.json2PrefixBasedSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson2));
 
     ss.str("");
     ss.clear();
     Json::Value testJson3;
     testJson3 = Json::Value(Json::arrayValue);  // incorrect json object
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(false, queryAdapterTest2.json2CompleteSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson3));
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(false, queryAdapterTest2.json2PrefixBasedSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson3));
 
     ss.str("");
     ss.clear();
@@ -626,7 +636,7 @@
     Json::Value param;
     param[0] = "test";
     testJson4["name"] = param;  // incorrect json object
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(false, queryAdapterTest2.json2CompleteSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson4));
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(false, queryAdapterTest2.json2PrefixBasedSearchSqlTest(ss, testJson4));
   }
 
   BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()