diff --git a/crates/nu-command/src/help/help_.rs b/crates/nu-command/src/help/help_.rs
index a036161003..ff24f84206 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/src/help/help_.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/src/help/help_.rs
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ pub fn highlight_search_string(
         }
     };
     // strip haystack to remove existing ansi style
-    let stripped_haystack = nu_utils::strip_ansi_likely(haystack);
+    let stripped_haystack = nu_utils::strip_ansi_string_unlikely(haystack.to_string());
     let mut last_match_end = 0;
     let mut highlighted = String::new();
 
diff --git a/crates/nu-utils/src/deansi.rs b/crates/nu-utils/src/deansi.rs
index 28f41495d8..1e4afe7ffc 100644
--- a/crates/nu-utils/src/deansi.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-utils/src/deansi.rs
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ pub fn strip_ansi_string_unlikely(string: String) -> String {
     if string
         .as_str()
         .bytes()
-        .any(|x| matches!(x, 0..=9 | 11..=31))
+        .any(|x| matches!(x, 0..=8 | 11..=31))
     {
         if let Ok(stripped) = String::from_utf8(strip_ansi_escapes::strip(&string)) {
             return stripped;