Manipulating the way a db Query is generated ..

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
Hi, is there a way to manipulate the way a db query is built .. I would like to use the LIKE operator with a wildcard `%` instead of the equal `=` operator to generate queries like

Code:

SELECT * FROM (`drivers`) WHERE `first_name` LIKE 'D%' AND `active` = 1 ORDER BY `id`

instead of

Code:

SELECT * FROM (`drivers`) WHERE `first_name` = 'David' AND `active` = 1 ORDER BY `id`

This is how the query is being constructed from a search form

Code:

..
      for($i=0;sizeof($this->searchfld)>$i;$i++)
        if($this->input->get($this->searchfld[$i])!=''){
          $criteria[$this->searchfld[$i]]= $this->input->get($this->searchfld[$i]);
        }

..
$this->db->where($criteria);
return $this->db->get();