diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index df72118..7285303 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -159,8 +159,7 @@ const filter = {
 const result = util.recursive_filter(
   to_filter,
   [filter],
-  'children',
-  true // let the function know, that it is running on an indexed object
+  'children'
 );
 ```
 
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 583080c..21c47d5 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -92,15 +92,9 @@ function to_search_string (element, field) {
  * @param {Array<object>} input
  * @param {Array<{field: string|string[], filter: RegExp}>} filters
  * @param {string} children_key field where children are stored
- * @param {boolean} indexed set to true if the object was indexed
  * @returns {Array<object>} filtered data
  */
-function recursive_filter (
-  input,
-  filters,
-  children_key = 'children',
-  indexed = false
-) {
+function recursive_filter (input, filters, children_key = 'children') {
   const data = [ ...input ];
   const filtered = [];
   for (let i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
@@ -115,20 +109,16 @@ function recursive_filter (
         break;
       }
     }
-    if (match && !indexed) {
+    if (match) {
       filtered.push (e);
     }
     else {
-      if (!Array.isArray (e[children_key])) {
-        if (match && indexed)
-          filtered.push (e);
+      if (typeof e[children_key] === 'undefined')
         continue;
-      }
       e[children_key] = recursive_filter (
         e[children_key],
         filters,
-        children_key,
-        indexed
+        children_key
       );
       if (e[children_key].length > 0)
         filtered.push (e);
@@ -160,10 +150,7 @@ function filter_index (
         .filter ((v) => typeof v !== 'undefined')
         .join (' ');
     }
-    const self_str = to_search_string (e, field);
-    if (search_str.length > 0 && self_str.length > 0)
-      search_str += ' ';
-    search_str += self_str;
+    search_str += to_search_string (e, field);
     e[index_field] = search_str;
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/index.js b/test/index.js
index 2696f72..ba5ae97 100644
--- a/test/index.js
+++ b/test/index.js
@@ -205,7 +205,6 @@ test ('recursive filter undefined multifield', (t) => {
   t.deepEqual (res, []);
 });
 
-// eslint-disable-next-line max-lines-per-function
 test ('recursive filter multifield index', (t) => {
   const raw = [
     { name: 'foo', f: 'include' },
@@ -219,7 +218,7 @@ test ('recursive filter multifield index', (t) => {
     {
       name:     'baz',
       children: [
-        { name: 'include_foo', f: 'include' },
+        { name: 'include_foo' },
         { name: 'bar' }
       ]
     },
@@ -237,19 +236,7 @@ test ('recursive filter multifield index', (t) => {
       name:         'foo',
       f:            'include',
       search_index: 'foo include'
-    },
-    {
-      name:     'baz',
-      children: [
-        {
-          name:         'include_foo',
-          f:            'include',
-          search_index: 'include_foo include'
-        }
-      ],
-      search_index: 'include_foo include bar baz'
     }
-
   ];
 
   util.filter_index (raw, [
@@ -261,6 +248,6 @@ test ('recursive filter multifield index', (t) => {
     field:  'search_index',
     filter: /foo include/ui
   };
-  const result = util.recursive_filter (raw, [ filter ], 'children', true);
+  const result = util.recursive_filter (raw, [ filter ]);
   t.deepEqual (filtered, result);
 });