Highlighting Words in Search Results using PHP

[nonfound]

If you are looking for Highlighting Words in Search Results using PHP then you are at the right place. This simple tutorial will help the users to identify results easily in highlighting those multiple words after searching. You can also check the live demo of this simple tutorial, so you can get an idea and you can try this out, let's start coding.

⚙ Live Demo

Creating one TextBox for the user where they type their desired word to search and one button as shown in the image below.

Here's the source code of the image above.

1. <form
   
   method
   
   =
   
   "post"
   
   action
   
   =
   
   ""
   
   >
   
2. <div
   
   class
   
   =
   
   "search-box"
   
   >
   
3. <label
   
   class
   
   =
   
   "label_word"
   
   >
   
   Enter Search Word:</
   
   label
   
   >
   
4. <div
   
   >
   
5. <input
   
   type
   
   =
   
   "text"
   
   name
   
   =
   
   "hint_word_search"
   
   class
   
   =
   
   "example_Box"
   
   autofocus=
   
   "autofocus"
   
   value
   
   =
   
   "<?php echo $hint_word_search; ?>
   
   " />
   
6. </
   
   div
   
   >
   
7. <div
   
   >
   
8. <input
   
   type
   
   =
   
   "submit"
   
   name
   
   =
   
   "go"
   
   class
   
   =
   
   "search_Button"
   
   value
   
   =
   
   "Search"
   
   >
   
9. </
   
   div
   
   >
   
10. </
    
    div
    
    >
    
11. </
    
    form
    
    >
    

This simple PHP source code is used to search words in title or description. If match the words, it will be highlighted those keywords. The code is,

1. <?php
   
2. $conn
   
   =
   
   mysqli_connect
   
   (
   
   "localhost"
   
   ,
   
   "root"
   
   ,
   
   ""
   
   ,
   
   "links"
   
   )
   
   ;
   
3. $hint_word_search
   
   =
   
   ""
   
   ;
   
4. $condition_of_Query
   
   =
   
   ""
   
   ;
   
5. if
   
   (
   
   !
   
   empty
   
   (
   
   $_POST
   
   [
   
   "hint_word_search"
   
   ]
   
   )
   
   )
   
   {
   
6. $hint_word_search
   
   =
   
   $_POST
   
   [
   
   "hint_word_search"
   
   ]
   
   ;
   
7. $words_Array
   
   =
   
   explode
   
   (
   
   " "
   
   ,
   
   $hint_word_search
   
   )
   
   ;
   
8. $wordsCount
   
   =
   
   count
   
   (
   
   $words_Array
   
   )
   
   ;
   
9. $condition_of_Query
   
   =
   
   " WHERE "
   
   ;
   
10. for
    
    (
    
    $i
    
    =
    
    0
    
    ;
    
    $i
    
    <
    
    $wordsCount
    
    ;
    
    $i
    
    ++
    
    )
    
    {
    
11. $condition_of_Query
    
    .=
    
    "title LIKE '%"
    
    .
    
    $words_Array
    
    [
    
    $i
    
    ]
    
    .
    
    "%' OR description LIKE '%"
    
    .
    
    $words_Array
    
    [
    
    $i
    
    ]
    
    .
    
    "%'"
    
    ;
    
12. if
    
    (
    
    $i
    
    !=
    
    $wordsCount
    
    -
    
    1
    
    )
    
    {
    
13. $condition_of_Query
    
    .=
    
    " OR "
    
    ;
    
14. }
    
15. }
    
16. }
    
17. $orderby
    
    =
    
    " ORDER BY id desc"
    
    ;
    
18. $sql
    
    =
    
    "SELECT * FROM links "
    
    .
    
    $condition_of_Query
    
    ;
    
19. $result
    
    =
    
    mysqli_query
    
    (
    
    $conn
    
    ,
    
    $sql
    
    )
    
    ;
    
20. ?>
    
21. <?php
    
22. function
    
    words_highlighted(
    
    $text
    
    ,
    
    $hint_word_search
    
    )
    
    {
    
23. $words_Array
    
    =
    
    explode
    
    (
    
    " "
    
    ,
    
    $hint_word_search
    
    )
    
    ;
    
24. $wordsCount
    
    =
    
    count
    
    (
    
    $words_Array
    
    )
    
    ;
    
25. 
    
26. for
    
    (
    
    $i
    
    =
    
    0
    
    ;
    
    $i
    
    <
    
    $wordsCount
    
    ;
    
    $i
    
    ++
    
    )
    
    {
    
27. $highlighted_text
    
    =
    
    "<span style='font-weight:bold;'>$words_Array
    
    [$i
    
    ]</span>"
    
    ;
    
28. $text
    
    =
    
    str_ireplace
    
    (
    
    $words_Array
    
    [
    
    $i
    
    ]
    
    ,
    
    $highlighted_text
    
    ,
    
    $text
    
    )
    
    ;
    
29. }
    
30. return
    
    $text
    
    ;
    
31. }
    
32. ?>
    

Result

⚙ Live Demo

Hope that this tutorial will help you a lot.

Share us your thoughts and comments below. Thank you so much for dropping by and reading this tutorial post. For more updates, don’t hesitate and feel free to visit this website more often and please share this with your friends or email me at [email protected]. Practice Coding. Thank you very much.

Download