diff --git a/app/models/principal.rb b/app/models/principal.rb
index 3c350d6a8..e62b5f320 100644
--- a/app/models/principal.rb
+++ b/app/models/principal.rb
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ class Principal < ActiveRecord::Base
     principal ||= principals.detect {|a| keyword.casecmp(a.login.to_s) == 0}
     principal ||= principals.detect {|a| keyword.casecmp(a.mail.to_s) == 0}
 
-    if principal.nil? && / /.match?(keyword)
+    if principal.nil? && keyword.include?(' ')
       firstname, lastname = *(keyword.split) # "First Last Throwaway"
       principal ||=
         principals.detect do |a|