[php] How to display Wordpress search results?

I've spent a lot of time figuring out why my search is not working in my custom made template. So far I was able to figure out how to include searchform.php file in my header, created search.php file which is currently empty (so at the moment when I search for something I get redirected to a blank page and I think I definitely need something in search.php file to make it work), I was reading all around Wordpress codex but could not find a solution, only useful information I found was this.

http://codex.wordpress.org/Creating_a_Search_Page

Can you suggest what need's to be done in order to display results of a search? is there a special query, function etc? I really can't find it anywhere.

my searchform.php file in case you need it.

<form action="<?php echo home_url(); ?>" id="search-form" method="get">
    <input type="text" name="s" id="s" value="type your search" onblur="if(this.value=='')this.value='type your search'"
    onfocus="if(this.value=='type your search')this.value=''" />
    <input type="hidden" value="submit" />
</form>

I am using searchform.php and search.php files as already mentioned, but here I provide the actual code.

Creating a Search Page codex page helps here and #Creating_a_Search_Page_Template shows the search query.

In my case I pass the $search_query arguments to the WP_Query Class (which can determine if is search query!). I then run The Loop to display the post information I want to, which in my case is the the_permalink and the_title.

Search box form:

<form class="search" method="get" action="<?php echo home_url(); ?>" role="search">
  <input type="search" class="search-field" placeholder="<?php echo esc_attr_x( 'Search …', 'placeholder' ) ?>" value="<?php echo get_search_query() ?>" name="s" title="<?php echo esc_attr_x( 'Search for:', 'label' ) ?>" />
  <button type="submit" role="button" class="btn btn-default right"/><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-search white"></span></button>
</form>

search.php template file:

<?php
    global $query_string;
    $query_args = explode("&", $query_string);
    $search_query = array();

    foreach($query_args as $key => $string) {
      $query_split = explode("=", $string);
      $search_query[$query_split[0]] = urldecode($query_split[1]);
    } // foreach

    $the_query = new WP_Query($search_query);
    if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : 
    ?>
    <!-- the loop -->

    <ul>    
    <?php while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
        <li>
            <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
        </li>   
    <?php endwhile; ?>
    </ul>
    <!-- end of the loop -->

    <?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>

<?php else : ?>
    <p><?php _e( 'Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.' ); ?></p>
<?php endif; ?>

Check whether your template in theme folder contains search.php and searchform.php or not.

you need to include the Wordpress loop in your search.php this is example

search.php template file:

<?php get_header(); ?>
<?php
$s=get_search_query();
$args = array(
                's' =>$s
            );
    // The Query
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
        _e("<h2 style='font-weight:bold;color:#000'>Search Results for: ".get_query_var('s')."</h2>");
        while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
           $the_query->the_post();
                 ?>
                    <li>
                        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
                    </li>
                 <?php
        }
    }else{
?>
        <h2 style='font-weight:bold;color:#000'>Nothing Found</h2>
        <div class="alert alert-info">
          <p>Sorry, but nothing matched your search criteria. Please try again with some different keywords.</p>
        </div>
<?php } ?>

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>

WordPress include tags, categories and taxonomies in search results

This code is taken from http://atiblog.com/custom-search-results/

Some functions here are taken from twentynineteen theme.Because it is made on this theme.

This code example will help you to include tags, categories or any custom taxonomy in your search. And show the posts contaning these tags or categories.

You need to modify your search.php of your theme to do so.

<?php
$search=get_search_query();
$all_categories = get_terms( array('taxonomy' => 'category','hide_empty' => true) ); 
$all_tags = get_terms( array('taxonomy' => 'post_tag','hide_empty' => true) );
//if you have any custom taxonomy
$all_custom_taxonomy = get_terms( array('taxonomy' => 'your-taxonomy-slug','hide_empty' => true) );

$mcat=array();
$mtag=array();
$mcustom_taxonomy=array();

foreach($all_categories as $all){
$par=$all->name;
if (strpos($par, $search) !== false) {
array_push($mcat,$all->term_id);
}
}

foreach($all_tags as $all){
$par=$all->name;
if (strpos($par, $search) !== false) {
array_push($mtag,$all->term_id);
}
}

foreach($all_custom_taxonomy as $all){
$par=$all->name;
if (strpos($par, $search) !== false) {
array_push($mcustom_taxonomy,$all->term_id);
}
}

$matched_posts=array();
$args1= array( 'post_status' => 'publish','posts_per_page' => -1,'tax_query' =>array('relation' => 'OR',array('taxonomy' => 'category','field' => 'term_id','terms' =>$mcat),array('taxonomy' => 'post_tag','field' => 'term_id','terms' =>$mtag),array('taxonomy' => 'custom_taxonomy','field' => 'term_id','terms' =>$mcustom_taxonomy)));

$the_query = new WP_Query( $args1 );
if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
$the_query->the_post();
array_push($matched_posts,get_the_id());
//echo '<li>' . get_the_id() . '</li>';
}
wp_reset_postdata();
} else {

}

?>
<?php
// now we will do the normal wordpress search
$query2 = new WP_Query( array( 's' => $search,'posts_per_page' => -1 ) );
if ( $query2->have_posts() ) {
while ( $query2->have_posts() ) {
$query2->the_post();
array_push($matched_posts,get_the_id());
}
wp_reset_postdata();
} else {

}
$matched_posts= array_unique($matched_posts);
$matched_posts=array_values(array_filter($matched_posts));
//print_r($matched_posts);
?>

<?php
$paged = ( get_query_var('paged') ) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
$query3 = new WP_Query( array( 'post_type'=>'any','post__in' => $matched_posts ,'paged' => $paged) );
if ( $query3->have_posts() ) {
while ( $query3->have_posts() ) {
$query3->the_post();
get_template_part( 'template-parts/content/content', 'excerpt' );
}
twentynineteen_the_posts_navigation();
wp_reset_postdata();
} else {

}
?>