Index: wp-includes/general-template.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/general-template.php	(revision 5912)
+++ wp-includes/general-template.php	(working copy)
@@ -966,8 +966,12 @@
 	return apply_filters( 'get_search_query', stripslashes( get_query_var( 's' ) ) );
 }
 
-function the_search_query() {
-	echo attribute_escape( apply_filters( 'the_search_query', get_search_query() ) );
+function the_search_query( $display = true ) {
+	$search_query = attribute_escape( apply_filters( 'the_search_query', get_search_query() ) );
+	if ( $display )
+		echo $search_query;
+	else
+		return $search_query;
 }
 
 function language_attributes() {