HTML search function using a wildcard - shopify

Question

I am a super beginner with HTML, however, I am trying to resolve an issue with my website. I am trying to concatenate a wildcard(*) to the end of whatever a consumer tries to search so that it picks up similarly tagged items, however, I cannot figure out where to add said code... Our current search query works well when pulling up items based on partial keywords, but when hitting the 'enter' button it will say it could not find any products.

Additional notes: This is a Shopify website with a theme from halothemes so most of this is coded by them.

{% assign grid_results = true %}

<div class="search-page collection-template" data-search-page>
 <div class="container">
  {% if search.performed %}

{% comment %}
Avoid accessing search.results before the opening paginate tag.
If you do, the pagination of results will be broken.
{% endcomment %}

{% paginate search.results by 15 %}

{% comment %}
We don't have any results to show. Feel free to show off featured products
or suggested searches here.
{% endcomment %}

{% if search.results_count == 0 %}
<header class="page-header">
  <h2>
    {% render 'multilang' with settings.search_1 %}
    <strong> &nbsp;"{{ search.terms }}"&nbsp; </strong>
    {% render 'multilang' with settings.search_2 %}
  </h2>
</header>

{% else %}

<header class="page-header">
  <h2>
    {% render 'multilang' with settings.search_3 %}
    <strong> &nbsp;"{{ search.terms }}"&nbsp; </strong>
    {% render 'multilang' with settings.search_4 %}
  </h2>
</header>

{% comment %}
Each result template, based on the grid_layout variable above
{% endcomment %}

<div class="block-row col-main">
  {% if grid_results == false %}
  <div class="product-collection products-list product-search row">
    {% for product in search.results %}
    <div class="grid-item col-12{% if settings.product_image_border%} grid-item-border{% endif %}">
      {% render 'search-result' with product as product %}
    </div>
    {% endfor %}
  </div>

  {% else %}

  <div class="products-grid product-search row product-collection">
    {% for product in search.results %}
    <div class="grid-item col-6 col-md-4{% unless settings.layout_style == 'layout_style_1170' %} col5 col-lg-3{% endunless %}{% if settings.product_image_border%} grid-item-border{% endif %}">
      {% if settings.style_product_grid == 'style_product_grid_2' %}
        {% render 'product-grid-item-style-2' with product as product %}
      {% else %}
        {% render 'product-grid-item' with product as product %}
      {% endif %}
    </div>
    {% endfor %}
  </div>
  {% endif %}
</div>
{% endif %}

{% if paginate.pages > 1 %}
<div class="padding">
  {% render 'pagination-page' paginate: paginate %}
</div>
{% endif %}
{% endpaginate %}

{% else %}

{% comment %}
If search.performed is false, someone either accessed the page without
the q parameter, or it was blank.
Be sure to show a search form here, along with anything else you want to showcase.
{% endcomment %}

<header class="page-header">
  <h2 style="text-align:center" {% if settings.enable_multilang %}data-translate="general.search.title"{%endif%}>{{ 'general.search.title' | t }}</h2>
  <div class="header-search__form">
      <form action="/search" method="get" class="search-bar" role="search">
          <input type="hidden" name="type" value="product">

          <input type="search" name="q"
              {% if settings.enable_multilang %} data-translate="general.search.placeholder" translate-item="placeholder"{% endif %}
              placeholder="{{ 'general.search.placeholder' | t }}"
              class="input-group-field" aria-label="Search Site" autocomplete="off">

          <button type="submit" class="btn icon-search">
              {% render 'icon-search' %}
          </button>
      </form>
  </div>
</header>
{% endif %}

Please let me know if you guys need any additional information! Thank you!

Answer 1

You can use a simple script to add a wildcard to the search query on submitting the form e.g:

var searchForm = document.querySelector(".search-bar");
searchForm.addEventListener("submit", function(e) {
  var searchInput = searchForm.querySelector("[name=q]");
  var q = searchInput.value;
  if (!q.match(/\*$/)) {
    e.preventDefault();
    searchInput.value = q + "*";
    searchForm.submit();
  }
});