Create Custom Post Type Search Result Page In WordPress

In this blog, we will learn about how to create a custom post-type search result page in WordPress.

We need to take the following steps:

1. Create a custom search page template ( {custom-post-type}-search.php )
2. Load your template using ‘template_include’ filter
3. Create a custom search form template ( {custom-post-type}-searchform.php )

Step One — Custom Search Page Template

Create a Custom search page template custom-post-type-search.php

<?php
/**
 * Custom Post Type Search result page.
 *
 * @package Aquila
 */
get_header();
global $wp_query;

?>
<div id="primary">
   <main id="main" class="site-main mt-5 mb-14" role="main">
      <div class="container">
         <header class="mb-5">
            <h1 class="page-title">
               <?php _e( 'Search results for', 'text-domain' ); ?>: "<?php the_search_query(); ?>"
            </h1>
         </header>

         <?php if ( have_posts() ) { ?>

            <div class="grid md:grid-cols-3 border-1 border-brand-bright-grey">

               <?php while ( have_posts() ) {
                  the_post();

                  get_template_part( 'template-parts/common/article' );

               } ?>

            </div>

            <div class="search-results-post-navigation my-5">
               <?php
               the_posts_navigation();
               ?>
            </div>
         <?php } else {
            get_template_part( 'template-parts/content', 'none' );
         } ?>

      </div>
   </main>
</div>
<?php get_footer(); ?>

Step 2 — Load your template using ‘template_include’ filter

Inside your functions.php

namespace YourNameSpace;

function render_search_template( $template ) {
   global $wp_query;
   $post_type = get_query_var( 'post_type' );

   if ( ! empty( $wp_query->is_search ) && $post_type == 'custom-post-type-slug') {
      return locate_template( 'custom-post-type-search.php' );  //  redirect to custom-post-type-search.php
   }

   return $template;
}

add_filter( 'template_include', __NAMESPACE__ . '\\render_search_template' );

Step 3 — Custom Search Form Template

Create a Custom search form template template-parts/custom-post-type-searchform.php

<?php
/**
 * Custom Post Type Search form
 *
 * @package Aquila
 */

?>

<form role="search" method="get" id="searchform block" class="search-form" action="<?php echo esc_url( home_url( '/' ) ); ?>" >
   <div class="relative">
      <label class="screen-reader-text" for="s"><?php esc_html_e( 'Search for:', 'text-domain' ); ?></label>
      <input id="search-field" type="search" class="search-field outline-none" placeholder="<?php esc_html_e( 'Search ...', 'text-domain' ); ?>" value="<?php echo esc_html( get_search_query() ); ?>" name="s" />
      <input type="hidden" name="post_type" value="custom-post-type-slug" />
      <button class="search-button cursor-pointer absolute right-0 top-0 bottom-0 m-auto py-5 px-4 ml-4" type="submit" id="searchsubmit">
         <span class="sr-only"><?php esc_html_e( 'Search', 'text-domain' ); ?></span>
         <svg class="w-18px h-18px cursor-pointer">
<svg id="search-icon-grey" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="17.766" height="17.738" viewBox="0 0 17.766 17.738">
   <path id="Path_166" data-name="Path 166" d="M17.63,10.986A6.631,6.631,0,1,0,22.161,22.46l5.7,5.7a.222.222,0,0,0,.318-.311l-5.7-5.7A6.632,6.632,0,0,0,17.63,10.986Zm0,.442a6.189,6.189,0,1,1-6.188,6.189A6.185,6.185,0,0,1,17.63,11.428Z" transform="translate(-10.75 -10.736)" stroke="#000" stroke-miterlimit="10" stroke-width="0.5"/>
</svg>
         </svg>
      </button>
   </div>
</form>

The mainline to note in the above code is <input type=”hidden” name=”post_type” value=”your-custom-post-type-slug” /> This will add a query params post_type in the URL, when the user clicks on the submit button like so : https://example.com/?s=nov&post_type=custom-post-type-slug

So when you print the $wpquery ( from global $wpquery ) in your custom search page template, it will set the post_typevalue in the query object and automatically fetch the results from that post type.

Now wherever you need the search form, you can include this template using get_template_part()

Bonus Tip

If you want to exclude this custom post type from the search result of the default post type ‘post’. Add the following in your `searchform.php`

<input type="hidden" name="post_type" value="post" />

This will ensure it only shows the result of the post type post

That’s all folks!