[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #54853: Search only searching phrases and not searching individual terms

[WordPress Trac]

#54853: Search only searching phrases and not searching individual terms
--------------------------+------------------------------
 Reporter:  jchang        |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Query         |     Version:  5.8.3
 Severity:  normal        |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-patch   |     Focuses:
--------------------------+------------------------------
Changes (by SergeyBiryukov):

 * severity:  blocker => normal


Comment:

 Hi there, welcome to WordPress Trac! Thanks for the ticket.

 > {{{
 > get_posts(array(
 >   "post_type" => "fruit",
 >   "s" => "apple orange banana"
 > ));
 > }}}
 >
 > should search for each term separately, but it does not. It searches the
 entire string as a phrase.

 Just noting that the search ordering logic is slightly more advanced.

 Some history here:
 * [4426] / #3177 (WordPress 2.1+) allowed "quoted strings" to be used in
 searches for exact matches.
 * [25632] / #7394 (WordPress 3.7+) orders search results by relevance,
 rather than by date.

 > The ordering logic is as follows:
 > * Full sentence matches in post titles.
 > * All search terms in post titles.
 > * Any search terms in post titles.
 > * Full sentence matches in post content.
 > Each section and any remaining posts are then sorted by date.

 Additionally, `WP_Query::parse_query` has a [source:tags/5.8.3/src/wp-
 includes/class-wp-query.php?marks=723#L717 'sentence' argument] that
 controls whether to search by phrase.

 So it seems to me that the default search behavior works as intended and
 documented, I don't see a bug here. As noted above, this can be customized
 using the `posts_search` or `posts_search_orderby` filters.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54853#comment:2>
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