Refine search results using WP_Query

Question

I am trying to modify (refine?) Worpress search results by using WP_Query, just as it's explained in the Codex. The snippet featured in that article is on the top of the Search Template PHP file, and all results are displaying accordingly.

When I try to append the WP_Query array with arguments of my choice, to create a modified query (for example: posts containing term user searches for, not included in a certain taxonomy), WP_Query completely ignores the appended arguments and gives me the original search results all over again.

Code below:

$search = new WP_Query(array( 'taxonomy' => 'media', 'field' => 'image', 'operator' => 'NOT IN'));

I also tried it this way, but I have a feeling it's completely wrong:

<?php
global $query_string;
$query_args = explode("&", $query_string);
$search_query = array();
foreach($query_args as $key => $string) {
    $query_split = explode("=", $string);
    $search_query[$query_split[0]] = urldecode($query_split[1]);
} // foreach
$args = array(
        'tax_query' => array(
        array(
            'taxonomy' => 'media',
            'field' => 'slug',
            'terms' => 'media',
            'operator' => 'NOT IN'
        )
    ),
    $search_query
);

What follows is the usual:

if ( $search->have_posts() ) :
    while ($search->have_posts() ) : $search->the_post(); ?>

I am not very fluent when it comes to coding, but trying to teach myself the quirks of Wordpress as a CMS. I read through replies on this site, none of the methods used did it for me, though.

Can you see what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

Answer 1

You need to just merge the current query for the search with the part you want to add which you came close to doing already.

I assume you have a custom taxonomy called media and you specifically want to leave out posts with the term media (like a term found in a tag or category) in the search results

In your case:

$custom_query = array();
$custom_query['tax_query'][] = array( 'taxonomy' => 'media', 'terms' => array('media'), 'field' => 'slug', 'operator' => 'NOT IN' );

$args = array_merge( $wp_query->query, $custom_query );
query_posts( $args );