I need to activate query strings to part of the application

[eluser]plainas[/eluser]
I like the url format of CI, but i want to enable query strings to the search pages so the users can have costum urls.

Like....

mysite.com/index.php/controller/search?q=searchstringhere


codeigniter doesn't let me access $_GET.

How can i go around this?

[eluser]Derek Allard[/eluser]
Could you use

mysite.com/index.php/controller/search/searchstringhere

or

mysite.com/index.php/controller/search/q/searchstringhere

[eluser]plainas[/eluser]
I think I will end up using something like that.
That means that i will need to use a redirect, which i would like to avoid so my site would be compatible with really old browsers.

But i think i will end up using that anyway.
Thank you