Include postmeta in WordPress search

4 comments

1. A quick and dirty way to include meta values inside your searching scope: you can hook into pre_get_posts and add a meta_query like this:

   Inside your functions.php:

   add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'so_9224493_adjust_search_query');
   function so_9224493_adjust_search_query( $query ) {
       if ( !is_admin() && $query->is_search ) { //the !is_admin() boolean ensures that this does not affect your dashboard
           $meta_query_arguments = array(
               array(
                   'key' => 'item_number', //this is where you would put your meta key
                   'value' => $query->query_vars['s'],
                   'compare' => 'LIKE',
               ),
           );
           $query->set('meta_query', $meta_query_arguments);
       };
   }
   

   The only problem with this route is that it will include the meta query so that your search query will only match posts that include the search term inside the Title/Content/Excerpt and the meta field, which might not be preferable for you.

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2. You must replace your WordPress search function with your own. Check this answer.

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3. Very simple workaround: put all meta values you want to be searchable into post_exerpt field (use save_post action), so they will be found without any search modifications.

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4. This site provided the answer I was looking for:
   http://flav36rs.com/2010/03/15/extend-wordpress-search-to-include-custom-post-meta/

   There are some helpful comments below the tutorial worth looking at if you run into problems.

   ---

   EDIT:

   The above link is dead.

   Ultimately, I ended up writing a complete custom search query using JOINS to build the query I needed.

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