Divi Page Builder and cleaner excerpts

by Mikko Saari

If you’re using the page builder in Divi, it’ll work with Relevanssi, but the excerpts may look ugly because of the shortcodes the page builder uses to format the pages.

The solution is, however, easy: just remove the Divi shortcodes before the excerpt is built. The following code is placed in the theme functions.php and will remove all shortcodes that start with [et_pb before the excerpts are built. The code doesn’t affect the normal shortcode functionality, only the Relevanssi excerpts.

add_filter('relevanssi_pre_excerpt_content', 'rlv_trim_divi_shortcodes');
function rlv_trim_divi_shortcodes($content) {
    $content = preg_replace('/\[\/?et_pb.*?\]/', '', $content);
    return $content;
}

For Visual Composer, use this:

add_filter('relevanssi_pre_excerpt_content', 'rlv_trim_vc_shortcodes');
function rlv_trim_vc_shortcodes($content) {
    $content = preg_replace('/\[\/?vc.*?\]/', '', $content);
    $content = preg_replace('/\[\/?mk.*?\]/', '', $content);
    return $content;
}

If you want to simply get rid of all shortcodes in excerpts, try this:

add_filter('relevanssi_pre_excerpt_content', 'rlv_shortcode_blaster');
function rlv_shortcode_blaster($content) {
	$content = preg_replace('/\[.*?\]/s', '', $content);
	return $content;
}

JoshF

This is great – could you please explain where this code is to be placed??
- Mikko Saari
  
  Theme functions.php is a good place.
Boumy

Oops, I didn’t see the last curly bracket so I got my site unreachable until I got it 😀
Trev

Newbie question…. Where should this code be put on Divi ?
- Mikko Saari
  
  Theme functions.php.
txspiderman

I am using the7 theme and get the same results. I added the code to my functions.php and reindexed. I still get the ugly descriptions, ideas?
- Mikko Saari
  
  Is the7 using the [et_pb] shortcodes, or something with a different name?
  - txspiderman
    
    It’s the visual composer layout short codes.
    - Mikko Saari
      
      And you renamed et_pb in that code to vc, and it still doesn’t work?
      - txspiderman
        
        Oh! Duh! I will try that
      - txspiderman
        
        That was the issue, thank you!
Jose Almeida

An if there is more than one code to strip? is the same code?
Also when some sharing plugins add text in the top of the post how can we strip that to? I am using Massahre and it displays the share count in the excerpt
- Mikko Saari
  
  Depends on how and where in the process the plugin adds the text. If it happens after Relevanssi is done, then it’s impossible to block from Relevanssi, if it happens before then it’s simple, just use relevanssi_excerpt_content filter to weed it out.
  
  And yes, you can add multiple preg_replace() lines to clean out multiple tags.
  - Jose Almeida
    
    Thanks I found the problem there was a setting related to categories now is working fine.
hossein hajipour

The problem of this solution is that all excerpts related to divi (such as title or text) will be ignore in the search results. Is there better solution for this problem? like, interpreting all of divi codes before considering theme as excerpt?
- Mikko Saari
  
  This solution doesn’t actually affect the search results, only the excerpts.
  
  Relevanssi expands all the shortcodes when preparing the content for excerpts, but the Divi shortcodes do not work properly and cannot be expanded at that point.
hossein hajipour

Thanks a lot for your quick reply. I know the results will remain the same, but the excerpt that will be show with the results may not be related to the search keyboard(s). For example if I search a title of divi text the excerpt will be unrelated to that because we ignore theme. All in all is there any better solution to keep the context of divi modules in the excerpts?
- Mikko Saari
  
  No, not that I know of. My recommendation is to steer clear of these visual composer themes, all I see from them is trouble anyway.
Christine Jackson

Mikko, I tried this (using visual composer). I used the replacement vc as you suggested and this did not work. Furthermore, search results are also showing wordpress short codes (e.x. [caption]) and theme shortodes
- Mikko Saari
  
  Are you sure those search results are generated by Relevanssi?
  - Christine Jackson
    
    I assume so, I had Relevanssi installed & activated. Also, ensured the settings were set to not include shortcodes.
    - Mikko Saari
      
      Relevanssi expands all shortcodes before building the excerpt, except the ones it cannot (for example the page builder shortcodes). Theme shortcodes need to be removed with the filter, as explained in the posts. WordPress shortcodes, like [caption], should be removed automatically.
      
      You’ve enabled the custom excerpts in Relevanssi settings? Adjusting Relevanssi excerpt settings changes the excerpts, for example if you adjust the length of the excerpt in the settings, it changes on the results page?
      - Christine Jackson
        
        Wow, no shortcodes were removed when i used your patch.
        
        Yes, custom excerpts were enabled, yes it changed on the results page.
      - Mikko Saari
        
        Have you checked that the filter code is running in the first place?
      - Christine Jackson
        
        No, i do not know how to do that.
      - Mikko Saari
        
        On the first line inside the function, write:
        
        echo “running filter”; exit();
        
        and then do a search. If the filter is running, you should see the text “running filter” and nothing else.
      - Christine Jackson
        
        Thank you. The filter code is not running.
      - Christine Jackson
        
        Could this be caused by caching?
      - Mikko Saari
        
        Maybe. That, or a typo in the code somewhere. Is the filter code in theme functions.php so that it gets noticed by WordPress? Somehow WP and Relevanssi are just not seeing the code.
      - Christine Jackson
        
        It is in the functions.php
        
        I fixed it. Now it says running filter only on a white screen.
      - Mikko Saari
        
        Ok, now remove the code you added and enjoy excerpts without Visual Composer codes, hopefully.
      - Christine Jackson
        
        No such luck.
        
        My code:
        
        add_filter(‘relevanssi_pre_excerpt_content’, ‘rlv_trim_divi_shortcodes’);
        
        function rlv_trim_divi_shortcodes($content) {
        
        $content = preg_replace(‘/[/?vc.*?]/’, ”, $content);
        
        return $content;
        
        }
      - Christine Jackson
        
        http://poochcoach.com/?s=trainer is an example. Very first item in list has shortcode before all else.
      - Christine Jackson
        
        This one is a great example: http://poochcoach.com/?s=caption
      - Christine Jackson
        
        This example is full of vc shortcodes http://poochcoach.com/?s=DOGTV
      - Mikko Saari
        
        Yeah, looks like so. If the code doesn’t help, I can’t help you much more, at least without a closer look at your site – and that’s something I can’t do here for free.
      - Christine Jackson
        
        If i buy a Pro License, will you? What do i need to do to get you to look closer?
      - Mikko Saari
        
        Sure, this is something that comes with the support license.
Max Bayer

Hello Mikko,

I am using theKen theme from artbees which is using visual composer. As far as I read so far this might mean trouble. I seem to have similar problems like the rest. Codes like “[/vc_column_inner]
[/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/mk_page_section]” showing up in the search results. I did enter the code you posted into the functions.php of my childtheme like below

function rlv_trim_divi_shortcodes($content) {

$content = preg_replace(‘/[/?vc.*?]/’, ”, $content);

return $content;

}

I could confirm the filter is running using echo “running filter”; exit(); and then removing it again.

The text sniplets for searching a search term like “toleranzen” never the less looks like:
…text_transform=“uppercase“ font_family=“none“]Toleranzen bei Stab und Coil[/mk_fancy_title]

I did check the boxes on “new user defined search sniplet” and “execute shortcodes in results” in the relevanssi settings.

Is there anything else I could try to solve this issue?
- Mikko Saari
  
  You have vc_ shortcodes, but also mk_ shortcodes. So, add this line to the function:
  
  $content = preg_replace(‘/[/?mk.*?]/’, ”, $content);
  
  That should clean it up a bit.
  - Max Bayer
    
    This is ist! Works great now! Thanks a lot, amazing! One last question though, before when doing a search and clicking on one of the results of the results page I am redirected to the site of the result and all search terms on that site are highlighted. In addition to that I had little stripe marks on the page scroll bar on the right side of the screen indicating the position where the searchterms are positioned on the page. These handy stripemarks are gone now. Is this a sideffect of the code I implemented or is there another setting I can change to get them back?
    - Max Bayer
      
      also there are still some search results that show MK_ codes like “[mk_step font_size=“25″… ” but much less.
      - Mikko Saari
        
        The code should clean all of those, so hard to say what’s up with that.
    - Mikko Saari
      
      Relevanssi has nothing to do with the stripe marks. It hasn’t created them, and I can’t see how it could have removed them. So no idea about them.
      - Max Bayer
        
        True, i found out its a handy feature of google chrome.
        
        http://www.techdreams.org/browsers/brilliant-google-chrome-ui-highlights-search-text-occurrences-on-scroll-bar/379-20080928
        
        Thank you for your support and plugin.
Ted

Hello Mikko,

I am using Jupiter Theme from Artbees, and visual Composer.

What should I write instead of Divi?
On funcitons.php I added
“function rlv_trim_divi_shortcodes($content) {

$content = preg_replace(‘/[/?[vc.*?]/’, ”, $content);
return $content;
$content = preg_replace(‘/[/[mk.*?]/’, ”, $content);
return $content;

}”
- Mikko Saari
  
  What kind of shortcodes are you seeing? If you’re seeing [vc_] and [mk_] shortcodes, then that is correct, except you need to remove the first “return $content;”.
Marna Towne

Where does this code go for Divi sites?
- Mikko Saari
  
  Theme function.php.
  - Marna Towne
    
    Thanks. What might I be doing wrong. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/85780dd243ca50b1843dbf7415f101cea132f696dc27173ce516f4e00a6a5c9c.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d4ff30c51d7eab044f11a1c55886a27921fe63bb6b0e8ffad50b2a4b4a3a2bd3.png
    - Mikko Saari
      
      Are those excerpts generated by Relevanssi in the first place? If they are, that code should fix it, but if they’re not, then it doesn’t work.
      
      If you change the excerpt length settings from Relevanssi settings page, do the excerpts change?
      - Marna Towne
        
        Okay, first of all. Newbie-ish person here. I glanced through the manual, but did not find anything on what an excerpt actually was. I thought it was a query result. This mostly sounds above my head. ha!
      - Mikko Saari
        
        It has the same meaning as in regular English, ie. a snippet of text. That is, the part of the post that is shown on the search results page. See the excerpt settings in Relevanssi settings page. If you change the excerpt length in the settings, do the search results pages change?
      - Marna Towne
        
        nope. does not look like this is working for me. I changed it to 10 words and still get this whole long thing like the wordpress search.
      - Mikko Saari
        
        Ok, that’s why the Relevanssi filter is not working: you’re not seeing Relevanssi-generated excerpts. If you have enabled custom excerpts in Relevanssi settings, the next step is to adjust your theme. That may be easy – there may be a setting in your theme settings that lets you adjust what is shown on the search results pages, ie. do you see whole posts or just excerpts – or difficult, as in requiring changes to your theme templates.
      - Marna Towne
        
        okay. I’m not finding anything in the Divi settings but to set number of search responses. And I DO have custom snippets checked. What do I have to change to make Relevanssi the default search tool? I’m using a widget
      - Mikko Saari
        
        As far as I can tell, Relevanssi and Divi should work fine. Is Relevanssi powering the search in the first place? If you disable Relevanssi, do the results change?
      - Marna Towne
        
        nope. not running at all. Results are the same old wordpress search stuff.
      - Mikko Saari
        
        You may want to try disabling other plugins to see if there’s a conflict with Relevanssi; or try switching temporarily to one of the default themes to see if the problem is with the theme, though Divi should work with Relevanssi.
Luisa Sangeeta

Hello! It totally worked for my excerpts! Thank you very much!
Another problem I am getting since I installed relevansii, is that the “no result” page from the search has the text all separated in three rows, like in the print screen. All the other pages where I get a “no result” (category pages with no posts for example), are looking normal.

Like in the second print screen.

Any idea why?

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/70595651faadbe56d45459756252df144f68c4c4284e28d411acf81a773ba38f.jpg

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5727870949a6f5aabc055b4ef6f6c86e4ac8d6b37adcf1f144ba8f4f93942ab3.jpg
- Mikko Saari
  
  You have this in your CSS file, forcing the content to three columns:
  
  .search #left-area, .archive #left-area {
  -moz-column-count: 3;
  /* column-count: 3; */
  -moz-column-gap: 60px;
  /* column-gap: 60px; */
  }
  - Luisa Sangeeta
    
    Wow! Thank you! I had even put it myself! 😛 sorry for the question
Antonello Carlomagno

Hello,
I use the last version of DIVI theme of elegantthemes.com.
I tried to use your plugin but seems not works fine.
I saw that when I use the standard search field the url appear:

http://www.domain.com/?s=personale and the search works fine!

but If I use the search module of ET the url appear:

http://www.domain.com/?s=personale&et_pb_searchform_submit=et_search_proccess&et_pb_include_posts=yes&et_pb_include_pages=yes

and the result is blank!

Why?

I have created a functions.php file in /child theme folder but nothing.

Anyone can help me ?

regards
Antonello
- Mikko Saari
  
  Can you use a different search form that would not add the unnecessary parameters? Perhaps the default WordPress search widget? Or you can create a pre_get_posts filter function that strips the unnecessary parameters off.
  - Antonello Carlomagno
    
    thanks!, but in DIVI builder, I can only use search ET module … I don’t know how to filer the parameters
    - Mikko Saari
      
      Perhaps you can hire someone who’s experienced in Divi or ask Divi support to help you?
      - Antonello Carlomagno
        
        yes, I do it.
        but often for external plugins, not help much
PK Chand

I used this method and it works.. but i also use [stm_post_info] in my post its theme component.
Can you guide me how i can exactly prevent it from displaying in search too. Thanks
- PK Chand
  
  Nevermind one of your research below helped me understand the logic. It was fixed with this simple tweak addition:
  
  $content = preg_replace(‘/[/?stm.*?]/’, ”, $content);
Itamar Megged

In VC there’s also the [vc_raw_html] shortcode which usualy includes a raw huge line of random characters. These characters are not stripped out with the code provided here, but I’ve modified it a bit so it does. please feel free to use:

/** strip out all shortcodes + content inbetween `vc_raw_html` tags from search result excerpt **/
add_filter(‘relevanssi_pre_excerpt_content’, ‘rlv_shortcode_blaster’);
function rlv_shortcode_blaster($content) {
$content = preg_replace(‘/[(vc_raw_html).*?].*?[/1] ?/’, ”, $content);
$content = preg_replace(‘/[.*?]/s’, ”, $content);
return $content;
}
- Mikko Saari
  
  Thanks!