Custom Search results page WordPress

Bob answers:

You need filtration based on title and content and category.
It is quite easy to filter post for category using wordpress query but filter using title and content only is little tricky.
Please follow below steps to achieve your desired result.

<strong>Step - 1.</strong>
Add search by title function in your themes <strong>functions.php</strong> (we will use it as filter)
<em>Please be careful it might add extra spaces when copying content form here :)</em>

function __search_by_title_only( $search, &$wp_query )
{
global $wpdb;

if ( empty( $search ) )
return $search; // skip processing - no search term in query

$q = $wp_query->query_vars;
$n = ! empty( $q['exact'] ) ? '' : '%';

$search =
$searchand = '';

foreach ( (array) $q['search_terms'] as $term ) {
$term = esc_sql( like_escape( $term ) );
$search .= "{$searchand}($wpdb->posts.post_title LIKE '{$n}{$term}{$n}')";
$searchand = ' AND ';
}

if ( ! empty( $search ) ) {
$search = " AND ({$search}) ";
if ( ! is_user_logged_in() )
$search .= " AND ($wpdb->posts.post_password = '') ";
}

return $search;
}

<strong>Step -2 .</strong>
Now add function to search content only in your theme's <strong>functions.php</strong> (we will use it as filter)

function __search_by_content_only( $search, &$wp_query )
{
global $wpdb;

if ( empty( $search ) )
return $search; // skip processing - no search term in query

$q = $wp_query->query_vars;
$n = ! empty( $q['exact'] ) ? '' : '%';

$search =
$searchand = '';

foreach ( (array) $q['search_terms'] as $term ) {
$term = esc_sql( like_escape( $term ) );
$search .= "{$searchand}($wpdb->posts.post_content LIKE '{$n}{$term}{$n}')";
$searchand = ' AND ';
}

if ( ! empty( $search ) ) {
$search = " AND ({$search}) ";
if ( ! is_user_logged_in() )
$search .= " AND ($wpdb->posts.post_password = '') ";
}

return $search;
}


<strong>Step 3</strong>
Now the final code is for <strong>search.php</strong> of your theme.
<em>Please Note:</em> We have to exclude all posts which are already displayed in first loop or second loop so it do not show duplicate results.

global $s;
add_filter( 'posts_search', '__search_by_title_only', 500, 2 );
// The Query for cat 1 and 2
$the_query = new WP_Query( 's='.$s.'&cat=1,2' );
$exclude_ids = array();
// The Loop
if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
echo '<ul>';
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
$the_query->the_post();
$exclude_ids[] = get_the_ID(); //once post is displayed it should not be visible in next loop so exclude it
echo '<li><a href="'.get_permalink().'">' . get_the_title() . '</a></li>';
}
echo '</ul>';
}
/* Restore original Post Data */
wp_reset_postdata();


// The Query for cat 2 and 3
$args = array('s' => $s, 'category_in' => array(3,4) ,'post__not_in' => $exclude_ids );
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

// The Loop
if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
echo '<ul>';
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
$the_query->the_post();
$exclude_ids[] = get_the_ID(); //once post is displayed it should not be visible in next loop so exclude it
echo '<li><a href="'.get_permalink().'">' . get_the_title() . '</a></li>';
}
echo '</ul>';
}
/* Restore original Post Data */
wp_reset_postdata();

// Now we not want to filter using title so remove that filter
remove_filter( 'posts_search', '__search_by_title_only',500);

//filter using content
add_filter( 'posts_search', '__search_by_content_only', 500, 2 );

// The Query for cat 2 and 3
$args = array('s' => $s, 'category_in' => array(1,2,3,4) ,'post__not_in' => $exclude_ids );
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

// The Loop
if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
echo '<ul>';
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
$the_query->the_post();
echo '<li><a href="'.get_permalink().'">' . get_the_title() . '</a></li>';
}
echo '</ul>';
}
/* Restore original Post Data */
wp_reset_postdata();
remove_filter( 'posts_search', '__search_by_content_only',500 );

Let me know if you have any question.