Wordpress php mysql LIKE query not working

Question

$db_item =  $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM wp_wowhead_items WHERE name LIKE %s", "%". "Hello" . "%") );

This above one works... But the below one doesn't work!

$text = "Hello";
$db_item =  $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM wp_wowhead_items WHERE name LIKE %s", "%". $text . "%") );

Where am I missing the syntax? I tried almost every combination with quotes, slashes, escapes...

this worked... Thanks. The problem is I tried it before, but it was freezing so I thought it wasn't working. Appereantly somewhere else it was giving "%%" and this was freezing the screen and I wasn't able to actually see it was working. — Weptile
– Weptile, Commented Feb 27, 2011 at 9:24

Sarfraz · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-27 08:47:15Z

3

Wrap it in quotes:

$db_item =  $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare(
            "SELECT * FROM wp_wowhead_items WHERE name LIKE %s", "'%". $text . "%'"));

answered Feb 27, 2011 at 8:47

Sarfraz

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1 Comment

@Weptile: Try running your query in mysql client first to make sure it returns any rows or not.

Emmanuel · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-26 02:16:56Z

1

Try this:

$db_item =  $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare(
    "SELECT * FROM wp_wowhead_items WHERE name LIKE %s", '%$text%'"
));

answered Feb 27, 2011 at 8:52

Emmanuel

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thank u, the "'%$text%'" dosen't need " ". just '%$text%'

@Emmanuel, How to use to get categories using LIKE?

it doesn't work on wordpress version 5.7, it always generates random guid like this

{d258ecae8e3704c8ad532e3b46f99bdc69c2c746b3fe2b2757f5be7b108912ed}my_keyword{d258ecae8e3704c8ad532e3b46f99bdc69c2c746b3fe2b2757f5be7b108912ed}

@JSN I thought I was alone in this been trying to find out whats happening with the crazy output using % seems its 5.7? this isn't cool.

@Sam, I ended up using remove_placeholder_escape, like this

$db_item = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->remove_placeholder_escape($wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM wp_wowhead_items WHERE name LIKE %s", '%$text%'")))

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