Environment:

• Satellite 6.15 , 6.16, 6.17 and 6.18

Description of problem:

 When using the parent_hostgroup parameter with the ^ operator, the request fails with a database syntax error.

--------------------------------------------------------
Error: external method 'search_by_hostgroup_and_descendants' failed with error: PG::SyntaxError: ERROR: syntax error at or near "'hostgroup_name1/abc'"
LINE 1: ...ostgroups.id IN (1,3,4)) AND (hostgroups.title IN 'test_rhel...
^
-------------------------------------------------------

How reproducible:

  Satellite Web UI --> Hosts --> All Hosts --> search for the query " parent_hostgroup ^ name_of_any_hostgroup" or "parent_hostgroup ^ (hostgroup_name1,hostgroup_name2,...hostgroup_nameN)"

Actual behavior:
The search not return hosts or hostgroups matching the specified parent hostgroup and its descendants and gives error as below.

--------------------------------------------------------
Error: external method 'search_by_hostgroup_and_descendants' failed with error: PG::SyntaxError: ERROR: syntax error at or near "'hostgroup_name1/abc'"
LINE 1: ...ostgroups.id IN (1,3,4)) AND (hostgroups.title IN 'test_rhel...
^
-------------------------------------------------------

Expected behavior:
The search should correctly return hosts or hostgroups matching the specified parent hostgroup and its descendants.

Business Impact / Additional info:

 This prevents users from querying hostgroups using the parent_hostgroup parameter with the ^ operator. Inconsistent search behavior complicates administrative tasks, leading to additional time spent verifying query results and manually identifying the correct hosts.