Query for Show Tables?

[eluser]diywm[/eluser]
I wondered if there was a way to do a MySQL query on a database to get a resultset of all tables whose names fit a criteria (without having to go to the information_schema database).

I wanted to do a SHOW TABLES LIKE 'fred%' to get all tables with names starting with fred. I can do that, but it seems to return no results that I can loop through.

Do I have to go to the meta data in the information_schema if I want to do this?