How do I override the search template in a plugin?

Question

How do I override the search template i.e. used inside a theme with a custom search page inside a plugin? Please point our any relevant action/filter hooks which can be used to do this.

Any help is highly appreciated.

Answer 1

You can use template_include filter hook

add_filter('template_include','my_custom_search_template');

function my_custom_search_template($template){
    global $wp_query;
    if (!$wp_query->is_search)
        return $template

    return dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/my_search_template.php';

}

Answer 2

If i read your question correctly then it has been answered on stackoverflow. The link covers creating custom page templates upon plugin activation and also covers template redirect hook.