meta query multiple values for the same key

Question

I'm trying to query wordpress with multiple values but it looks like it can't take no more than 4 keywords

I'm currently using a loop and I already tried to switch to a IN operator but I need the query to work with wildcards and while REGEXP does the job, IN does not

foreach ($keywords as $value) {
    $args['meta_query'] = array(
        'relation' => 'OR',
        array(
            'key' => 'customfields',
            'value' => $value,
            'compare' => 'REGEXP'  
        )
    );
}

In this case $keywords is an array of words that I need to query to a custom field. It works with a few keywords, but it breaks with 5 or more.

Answer 1

Have you tried passing an array of values to the value argument?

$your_terms = array( 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' );

$args['meta_query'] = array(
    'relation' => 'OR',
    array(
        'key' => 'customfields',
        'value' => $your_terms,
        'compare' => 'REGEXP'  
    )
);

$this_query = new WP_Query( $args );

Answer 2

In its current form, your meta_query is overwritten in each iteration. In the final effect, you have only one custom field in meta_query:

Depending on the operator you want to use, meta_query argument should look as follow:

• for "LIKE", "REGEXP"

  if( is_array($keywords) && count($keywords) ) {
  
      $args['meta_query'] = array( 'relation' => 'OR' );
      foreach( $keywords as $value )
      {
          $args['meta_query'][] = array(
              'key' => 'customfields',
              'value' => $value,
              'compare' => 'REGEXP', // or 'LIKE'
          );
      }
  }
  //  === result: ===
  // $args['meta_query'] = array( 
  //     'relation' => 'OR',
  //     [ 'key' => 'customfields', 'value' => 'value_1', 'compare' => 'REGEXP' ],
  //     [ 'key' => 'customfields', 'value' => 'value_2', 'compare' => 'REGEXP' ],
  //     [ 'key' => 'customfields', 'value' => 'value_3', 'compare' => 'REGEXP' ],
  // );
  

• for "IN"

  if( is_array($keywords) && count($keywords) ) {
  
      $args['meta_query'] = array( 
          'relation' => 'OR',
          array(
              'key' => 'customfields',
              'value' => $keywords,
              'compare' => 'IN',
          )
      );
  }