Title: wi_posts_search_handler() error
Last modified: March 7, 2018

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# wi_posts_search_handler() error

 *  [Ardshael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ardshael/)
 * (@ardshael)
 * [8 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/)
 * I’m getting an error when activating the plugin. The plugin seems to work correctly
   but I get the following error:
 * `Warning: Parameter 2 to wi_posts_search_handler() expected to be a reference,
   value given in /.../wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php on line 286`

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

 *  [jphogan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jphogan/)
 * (@jphogan)
 * [8 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/#post-10058673)
 * Just installed this plugin for the first time and saw the same thing immediately.
 *  Thread Starter [Ardshael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ardshael/)
 * (@ardshael)
 * [8 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/#post-10058848)
 * I installed this plugin instead. Much of the backend is curiously similar but
   the other one is much better. [https://wordpress.org/plugins/ajax-search-lite/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/ajax-search-lite/)
 *  Plugin Author [Codieslab](https://wordpress.org/support/users/netflixtechweb/)
 * (@netflixtechweb)
 * [8 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/#post-10074950)
 * we will fix this error in our next plugin update version.
 *  [victornado](https://wordpress.org/support/users/victornado/)
 * (@victornado)
 * [7 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/#post-10666107)
 * Hi [@netflixtechweb](https://wordpress.org/support/users/netflixtechweb/).
 * I think the common issues are related to the latest versions of PHP. I run your
   plugin in a custom theme in a 5.6v and it works well, but at 7.0 it doesn’t work.
   If you find “Parameter 2 to wi_posts_search_handler() expected to be a reference,”
   at google there’s plenty of sites that happened the same.
 * Do you think you could fix this problem? If you need some help I could help you
   fixing the issue.
 * Thank’s.
 *  Plugin Author [Codieslab](https://wordpress.org/support/users/netflixtechweb/)
 * (@netflixtechweb)
 * [7 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/#post-10671815)
 * Hi victornado
 * Thanks for posting issue , our team will check with php 7 and fix it soon .
 *  [Christoph Nagel](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cmsgeek/)
 * (@cmsgeek)
 * [7 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/#post-10704522)
 * For those who can not wait for the plugin update, there is a simple solution,
   if you want to continue using PHP 7 and higher:
 * – Open /wp-content/plugins/wp-autosearch/functions.php
    – Search for &$ in the
   code and remove the & from it – Save the file, refresh your website or purge 
   your cache and the problem should be fixed
 *  [jphogan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jphogan/)
 * (@jphogan)
 * [7 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/#post-10812029)
 * Thanks, [@cmsgeek](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cmsgeek/), that worked!
   Going on 7 months waiting for an update to this and that did it.
 *  [cookney](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cookney/)
 * (@cookney)
 * [7 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/#post-10819201)
 * big shout to [@cmsgeek](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cmsgeek/) that worked!

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

The topic ‘wi_posts_search_handler() error’ is closed to new replies.

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## Tags

 * [php](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/php/)

 * 8 replies
 * 6 participants
 * Last reply from: [cookney](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cookney/)
 * Last activity: [7 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wi_posts_search_handler-error/#post-10819201)
 * Status: not resolved