Index: src/bp-messages/bp-messages-template.php
===================================================================
--- src/bp-messages/bp-messages-template.php	(revision 9344)
+++ src/bp-messages/bp-messages-template.php	(working copy)
@@ -1097,15 +1097,24 @@
 function bp_message_search_form() {
 
 	$default_search_value = bp_get_search_default_text( 'messages' );
-	$search_value         = !empty( $_REQUEST['s'] ) ? stripslashes( $_REQUEST['s'] ) : $default_search_value; ?>
+	$search_value         = !empty( $_REQUEST['s'] ) ? stripslashes( $_REQUEST['s'] ) : $default_search_value; 
 
-	<form action="" method="get" id="search-message-form">
-		<label for="messages_search" class="bp-screen-reader-text"><?php _e( 'Search Messages', 'buddypress' ); ?></label>
-		<input type="text" name="s" id="messages_search" <?php if ( $search_value === $default_search_value ) : ?>placeholder="<?php echo esc_html( $search_value ); ?>"<?php endif; ?> <?php if ( $search_value !== $default_search_value ) : ?>value="<?php echo esc_html( $search_value ); ?>"<?php endif; ?> />
-		<input type="submit" id="messages_search_submit" name="messages_search_submit" value="<?php esc_attr_e( 'Search', 'buddypress' ) ?>" />
-	</form>
+	$message_placeholder = ( $search_value === $default_search_value ) ? ' placeholder="' .  esc_attr( $search_value ) . '"' : '' ;
+	$message_value = ( $search_value !== $default_search_value ) ? ' value="' .  esc_attr( $search_value ) . '"' : '' ;
 
-<?php
+	$search_form_html = 	'<form action="" method="get" id="search-message-form">';
+	$search_form_html .=	'<label for="messages_search" class="bp-screen-reader-text">' . __( 'Search Messages', 'buddypress' ) . '</label>';
+	$search_form_html .=	'<input type="text" name="s" id="messages_search"' . $message_placeholder . $message_value . ' />'; 
+	$search_form_html .=	'<input type="submit" id="messages_search_submit" name="messages_search_submit" value="' . __( 'Search', 'buddypress' ) . '" /></form>';
+
+	/**
+	 * Filters the private message component search form.
+	 *
+	 * @since BuddyPress (2.2.0)
+	 *
+	 * @param string $search_form_html HTML markup for the message search form.
+	 */
+	echo apply_filters( 'bp_message_search_form', $search_form_html );
 }
 
 /**