CodeIgniter "like()" function with % wildcard inside search terms

In order to achieve such kind of functionality I've updated your code with some different conditions as like.

Note: Here I've manually placed values of categories and search

public function get_list($category = '', $limit = 10, $offset = 0) {    $category = 'electronics';    if (!empty($category)) {        $this->db->where('category', $category);    }    $search = 'match something';    if (preg_match('/\s/', $search) > 0) {        $search = array_map('trim', array_filter(explode(' ', $search)));        foreach ($search as $key => $value) {            $this->db->or_like('foo_column', $value);        }    } else if ($search != ''){        $this->db->like('foo_column', $search);    }    $query = $this->db->get('table_name', $limit, $offset);    return $query->result();}

Here $search = 'match something' and this'll generate the query as follows:

SELECT * FROM (`table_name`) WHERE `category` = 'electronics' AND  `foo_column` LIKE '%match%' OR `foo_column` LIKE '%something%' LIMIT 10

If $search = 'match something another' then it'll generate the query as

SELECT * FROM (`table_name`) WHERE `category` = 'electronics' AND `foo_column` LIKE '%match%' OR `foo_column` LIKE '%something%' OR `foo_column` LIKE '%another%' LIMIT 10

and if $search = 'match' the it'll generate the query as

SELECT * FROM (`table_name`) WHERE `category` = 'electronics' AND `foo_column` LIKE '%match%' LIMIT 10

and if $search = '' the it'll generate the query as

SELECT * FROM (`table_name`) WHERE `category` = 'electronics' LIMIT 10

the $this->db->like() function escapes special characters it contains - including, of course, %.

I guess, would be to bypass the problem and use a where function containing your LIKE clause:

$this->db->select('*')->from('table')->where("foo_column LIKE %$search%")->get();

Starting in 3.0.0 using the "Query Builder" (vs. previous versions "Active Record") there is an additional parameter for like() that lets you prevent escaping the match string:

$this->db->like('foo_column', '%match%something%', 'none', false)

• 3rd param = 'none' prevents prefix/postfix of additional wildcard chars
• 4th param = false prevents escaping of embedded wildcard chars

Note if you use a variable for your match string rather than a literal, you should use $this->db->escape_like_str($match) when the 4th param is false