This is the most simple and currently working solution. None of the above worked for me. It is tested and working with Wordpress 5.3.1 .
Place the following code in your functions.php file to hook into posts_clauses
filter.
/**
* Include meta fields in search
*
* @author Mindaugas // meevly.com
* @link https://meevly.com/services/custom-wordpress-themes-and-plugins/
*
* @param array $pieces query pieces.
* @param WP_Query $args query object.
* @return array
*/
function mv_meta_in_search_query( $pieces, $args ) {
global $wpdb;
if ( ! empty( $args->query['s'] ) ) { // only run on search query.
$keywords = explode(' ', get_query_var('s'));
$escaped_percent = $wpdb->placeholder_escape(); // WordPress escapes "%" since 4.8.3 so we can't use percent character directly.
$query = "";
foreach ($keywords as $word) {
$query .= " (unique_postmeta_selector.meta_value LIKE '{$escaped_percent}{$word}{$escaped_percent}') OR ";
}
if ( ! empty( $query ) ) { // append necessary WHERE and JOIN options.
$pieces['where'] = str_replace( "((({$wpdb->posts}.post_title LIKE '{$escaped_percent}", "( {$query} (({$wpdb->posts}.post_title LIKE '{$escaped_percent}", $pieces['where'] );
$pieces['join'] = $pieces['join'] . " INNER JOIN {$wpdb->postmeta} AS unique_postmeta_selector ON ({$wpdb->posts}.ID = unique_postmeta_selector.post_id) ";
}
}
return $pieces;
}
add_filter( 'posts_clauses', 'mv_meta_in_search_query', 20, 2 );
And your query should look like the following. Please note that suppress_filters => false
is mandatory! It will not work without it.
$search_posts_array = array(
'suppress_filters' => false,
's' => $keyword,
);
$search_results = get_posts( $search_posts_array );