diff --git a/R/rt_search.R b/R/rt_search.R
index 813b5ba..084ef5c 100644
--- a/R/rt_search.R
+++ b/R/rt_search.R
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+tabularize_ticket <- function(text) {
+  # Helper function to help tabularize ticket text from search results
+  ticket_headers <- stringr::str_extract_all(text, "\\n[a-zA-Z0-9{}.]+:")[[1]] %>%
+    str_replace_all("\\n|:", "")
+  ticket_content <- stringr::str_split(text, "\\n[a-zA-Z0-9{}.]+:")[[1]][-1] %>%
+    trimws()
+
+  return(data.frame(ticket_headers, ticket_content, stringsAsFactors = FALSE))
+}
+
 #' Search RT
 #'
 #' Search RT for tickets that fit your query.
@@ -24,20 +34,20 @@
 #' }
 
 rt_search <- function(query, orderBy = NULL, format="l", rt_base = getOption("rt_base")) {
-  base_api <- paste(stringr::str_replace(rt_base, "\\/$", ""), # removes trailing slash from base URL just in case
-                    "REST", "1.0", sep = "/")
+  base_api <- rt_url(rt_base, "search/ticket?")
 
-  url <- paste0(base_api, "/search/ticket?query=", query)
+  #based on httr::modify_url()
+  #possible TODO - turn this into its own function that can be used internally in the package
+  l <- Filter(Negate(is.null), #remove nulls, equivalent to purrr::compact
+              list(query = query,
+                   orderBy = orderBy,
+                   format = format))
 
-  if (!is.null(orderBy)) {
-    url <- paste0(url, "&orderBy=", orderBy)
-  }
+  params <- paste(paste0(names(l), "=", l), collapse = "&")
 
-  if (!is.null(format)) {
-    url <- paste0(url, "&format=", format)
-  }
+  url <- utils::URLencode(paste0(base_api, params))
 
-  req <- httr::GET(utils::URLencode(url))
+  req <- httr::GET(url)
 
   if (stringr::str_detect(httr::content(req), "Bad request")) {
     stop(httr::content(req), call. = FALSE)
@@ -47,19 +57,14 @@ rt_search <- function(query, orderBy = NULL, format="l", rt_base = getOption("rt
     return(req)
   }
 
-  not_empty <- function(column) {
-    !all(column == "" | is.na(column))
-  }
-
   result <- tibble::tibble(content = stringr::str_split(httr::content(req), "\\n--\\n")[[1]]) %>%
-    dplyr::mutate(content = stringr::str_split(content, "\\n"),
-                  line = 1:n()) %>%
+    mutate(line = 1:n(),
+           content = lapply(content, tabularize_ticket)) %>%
     tidyr::unnest() %>%
-    dplyr::filter(content != "") %>%
-    tidyr::separate(content, c("colname", "value"), sep = ":", fill = "right", extra = "merge") %>%
-    tidyr::spread(colname, value) %>%
-    dplyr::select_if(not_empty)
+    tidyr::spread(ticket_headers, ticket_content) %>%
+    dplyr::select_if(function(column) {!all(column == "" | is.na(column))}) #not empty
 
   return(result)
 }
 
+