diff --git a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php
index cf89ab1c24..7cd06dee19 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_mysql extends phpbb_search_base
 	protected $config;
 	protected $db;
 	protected $user;
-	public $word_length = array();
-	public $search_query;
-	public $common_words = array();
+	protected $word_length = array();
+	protected $search_query;
+	protected $common_words = array();
 
 	/**
 	 * Constructor
@@ -58,6 +58,36 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_mysql extends phpbb_search_base
 		return 'MySQL Fulltext';
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Returns the search_query
+	 *
+	 * @return string search query
+	 */
+	public function get_search_query()
+	{
+		return $this->search_query;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the common_words array
+	 *
+	 * @return array common words that are ignored by search backend
+	 */
+	public function get_common_words()
+	{
+		return $this->common_words;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the word_length array
+	 *
+	 * @return array min and max word length for searching
+	 */
+	public function get_word_length()
+	{
+		return $this->word_length;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	* Checks for correct MySQL version and stores min/max word length in the config
 	*
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_native.php b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_native.php
index 96b3f02ec6..bbc2236b3c 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_native.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_native.php
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ if (!defined('IN_PHPBB'))
 class phpbb_search_fulltext_native extends phpbb_search_base
 {
 	protected $stats = array();
-	public $word_length = array();
-	public $search_query;
-	public $common_words = array();
+	protected $word_length = array();
+	protected $search_query;
+	protected $common_words = array();
 
 	protected $must_contain_ids = array();
 	protected $must_not_contain_ids = array();
@@ -73,6 +73,36 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_native extends phpbb_search_base
 		return 'phpBB Native Fulltext';
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Returns the search_query
+	 *
+	 * @return string search query
+	 */
+	public function get_search_query()
+	{
+		return $this->search_query;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the common_words array
+	 *
+	 * @return array common words that are ignored by search backend
+	 */
+	public function get_common_words()
+	{
+		return $this->common_words;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the word_length array
+	 *
+	 * @return array min and max word length for searching
+	 */
+	public function get_word_length()
+	{
+		return $this->word_length;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	* This function fills $this->search_query with the cleaned user search query.
 	*
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_postgres.php b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_postgres.php
index 50ed785093..38989a9d9a 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_postgres.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_postgres.php
@@ -31,9 +31,9 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_postgres extends phpbb_search_base
 	protected $config;
 	protected $db;
 	protected $user;
-	public $search_query;
-	public $common_words = array();
-	public $word_length = array();
+	protected $search_query;
+	protected $common_words = array();
+	protected $word_length = array();
 
 	/**
 	 * Constructor
@@ -72,6 +72,36 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_postgres extends phpbb_search_base
 		return 'PostgreSQL Fulltext';
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Returns the search_query
+	 *
+	 * @return string search query
+	 */
+	public function get_search_query()
+	{
+		return $this->search_query;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the common_words array
+	 *
+	 * @return array common words that are ignored by search backend
+	 */
+	public function get_common_words()
+	{
+		return $this->common_words;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the word_length array
+	 *
+	 * @return array min and max word length for searching
+	 */
+	public function get_word_length()
+	{
+		return $this->word_length;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Returns if phrase search is supported or not
 	 *
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_sphinx.php b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_sphinx.php
index 288c0b5940..0a230f0e98 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_sphinx.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_sphinx.php
@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_sphinx
 	protected $dbtype;
 	protected $user;
 	protected $config_file_data = '';
-	public $search_query;
-	public $common_words = array();
+	protected $search_query;
+	protected $common_words = array();
 
 	/**
 	 * Constructor
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_sphinx
 
 		$error = false;
 	}
-	
+
 	/**
 	* Returns the name of this search backend to be displayed to administrators
 	*
@@ -98,6 +98,36 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_sphinx
 		return 'Sphinx Fulltext';
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Returns the search_query
+	 *
+	 * @return string search query
+	 */
+	public function get_search_query()
+	{
+		return $this->search_query;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns false as there is no word_len array
+	 *
+	 * @return false
+	 */
+	public function get_word_length()
+	{
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the common_words array
+	 *
+	 * @return array common words that are ignored by search backend
+	 */
+	public function get_common_words()
+	{
+		return $this->common_words;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	* Checks permissions and paths, if everything is correct it generates the config file
 	*
diff --git a/phpBB/search.php b/phpBB/search.php
index 190da5247f..7eda3c4d1d 100644
--- a/phpBB/search.php
+++ b/phpBB/search.php
@@ -287,14 +287,24 @@ if ($keywords || $author || $author_id || $search_id || $submit)
 		trigger_error($error);
 	}
 
+	$common_words = $search->get_common_words();
+
 	// let the search module split up the keywords
 	if ($keywords)
 	{
 		$correct_query = $search->split_keywords($keywords, $search_terms);
-		if (!$correct_query || (empty($search->search_query) && !sizeof($author_id_ary) && !$search_id))
+		if (!$correct_query || (!$search->get_search_query() && !sizeof($author_id_ary) && !$search_id))
 		{
-			$ignored = (sizeof($search->common_words)) ? sprintf($user->lang['IGNORED_TERMS_EXPLAIN'], implode(' ', $search->common_words)) . '<br />' : '';
-			trigger_error($ignored . $user->lang('NO_KEYWORDS', $user->lang('CHARACTERS', (int) $search->word_length['min']), $user->lang('CHARACTERS', (int) $search->word_length['max'])));
+			$ignored = (sizeof($common_words)) ? sprintf($user->lang['IGNORED_TERMS_EXPLAIN'], implode(' ', $common_words)) . '<br />' : '';
+			$word_length = $search->get_word_length();
+			if ($word_length)
+			{
+				trigger_error($ignored . $user->lang('NO_KEYWORDS', $user->lang('CHARACTERS', (int) $word_length['min']), $user->lang('CHARACTERS', (int) $word_length['max'])));
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				trigger_error($ignored);
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -526,7 +536,7 @@ if ($keywords || $author || $author_id || $search_id || $submit)
 	sort($m_approve_fid_ary);
 	sort($author_id_ary);
 
-	if (!empty($search->search_query))
+	if ($search->get_search_query())
 	{
 		$total_match_count = $search->keyword_search($show_results, $search_fields, $search_terms, $sort_by_sql, $sort_key, $sort_dir, $sort_days, $ex_fid_ary, $m_approve_fid_ary, $topic_id, $author_id_ary, $sql_author_match, $id_ary, $start, $per_page);
 	}
@@ -609,8 +619,8 @@ if ($keywords || $author || $author_id || $search_id || $submit)
 		'SEARCH_TITLE'		=> $l_search_title,
 		'SEARCH_MATCHES'	=> $l_search_matches,
 		'SEARCH_WORDS'		=> $keywords,
-		'SEARCHED_QUERY'	=> $search->search_query,
-		'IGNORED_WORDS'		=> (sizeof($search->common_words)) ? implode(' ', $search->common_words) : '',
+		'SEARCHED_QUERY'	=> $search->get_search_query(),
+		'IGNORED_WORDS'		=> (sizeof($common_words)) ? implode(' ', $common_words) : '',
 		'PAGE_NUMBER'		=> phpbb_on_page($template, $user, $u_search, $total_match_count, $per_page, $start),
 
 		'PHRASE_SEARCH_DISABLED'		=> $phrase_search_disabled,