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...

Answer 1

Escape it with double %%

When using get_results() in Wordpress, all % characters inside SQL string literals, including LIKE wildcards, must be double-% escaped as %%

$db_item = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare(

"SELECT * FROM wp_wowhead_items WHERE name LIKE '%%$text%%'"

));

Answer 2

Try this:

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

Answer 3

Wrap it in quotes:

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