Recently I had to implement a custom search function using Drupal's do_search() function. I needed to display many more results than 10, which is hard coded in the function.

The simple solution was this:

1. Go to http://api.drupal.org/api/function/do_search/6 (make sure you get the function for the correct version of Drupal you are using)

2. Copy the function and rename it to something like do_search_custom.

3. Add a parameter called $limit and make it default to 10. ( $limit=10 )

4. Replace pager_query argument at the bottom of the function with $limit.