String Escape in Like Query not working (CodeIgniter) - php

Question

I have been testing my query with random strings to see if there will be results that will be displayed.
One string that I tested is cal, so the query should be simple, right?
SELECT c.`ID` as id, CONCAT(p.`Name`, ' > ', c.`Name`) as name, 'cal' as q
FROM `cq_provice` p JOIN `cq_city` c ON c.`provinceID` = p.`ID`
WHERE (CONCAT(p.`Name`, ' > ', c.`Name`) LIKE '%cal%') ORDER BY p.`Name`, c.`Name`
LIMIT 0, 50
However, with my 2 prepared sql queries: one using the codeigniter way and one using the usual:
#1
$this->db->select('c.ID as id');
$this->db->select('CONCAT(p.Name, \' > \', c.Name) as name');
$this->db->select($term.' as q');
$this->db->from('cq_provice p');
$this->db->join('cq_city c', 'c.provinceID = p.ID');
$this->db->like('CONCAT(p.Name, \' > \', c.Name)', $this->db->escape($this->input->post('search')), 'both');
$this->db->order_by('p.Name', 'ASC');
$this->db->order_by('c.Name', 'ASC');
$this->db->limit($result_count, $offset);
$query = $this->db->get();
#2
$query = "SELECT c.`ID` as id, CONCAT(p.`Name`, ' > ', c.`Name`) as name, ".$term." as q
FROM `cq_provice` p JOIN `cq_city` c ON c.`provinceID` = p.`ID`
WHERE (CONCAT(p.`Name`, ' > ', c.`Name`) LIKE
'%".$this->db->escape($this->input->post('search'))."%')
ORDER BY p.`Name`, c.`Name` LIMIT ".$offset.", ".$result_count;
And both of them is giving me the same query statement:
SELECT c.`ID` as id, CONCAT(p.`Name`, ' > ', c.`Name`) as name, 'cal' as q
FROM `cq_provice` p JOIN `cq_city` c ON c.`provinceID` = p.`ID`
WHERE (CONCAT(p.`Name`, ' > ', c.`Name`) LIKE '%'cal'%')
ORDER BY p.`Name`, c.`Name` LIMIT 0, 50
My problem lies in the WHERE statement WHERE (CONCAT(p.Name, ' > ', c.Name) LIKE '%'cal'%' wherein the LIKE statement should be '%cal%' so I tried to use trim and regex but they gave me the same result:
SELECT c.`ID` as id, CONCAT(p.`Name`, ' > ', c.`Name`) as name, 'cal' as q
FROM `cq_provice` p JOIN `cq_city` c ON c.`provinceID` = p.`ID`
WHERE (CONCAT(p.`Name`, ' > ', c.`Name`) LIKE 'Êl%')
ORDER BY p.`Name`, c.`Name` LIMIT 0, 50
How do I fix this? How can I prevent my query to translate my string as special characters?
Any help is highly appreciated.

Answer 1

$this->db->select(array('c.ID as id','CONCAT(p.Name, " > ", c.Name) as name',$term.' as q'));
$this->db->from('cq_provice p');
$this->db->join('cq_city c', 'c.provinceID = p.ID');
$this->db->like('CONCAT(p.Name, " > ", c.Name)', $this->db->escape($this->input->post('search')));
$this->db->order_by('p.Name ASC, c.Name ASC');
$this->db->limit($result_count, $offset);
$query = $this->db->get();
or with MATCH, AGAINST
$field = $this->db->escape($this->input->post('search'));
$this->db->select(array('c.ID as id','CONCAT(p.Name, " > ", c.Name) as name',$term.' as q'));
$this->db->from('cq_provice p');
$this->db->join('cq_city c', 'c.provinceID = p.ID');
$this->db->where('MATCH (p.Name,c.Name) AGAINST ('.$field.')', NULL, FALSE);
$this->db->order_by('p.Name ASC, c.Name ASC');
$this->db->limit($result_count, $offset);
$query = $this->db->get();