Question

I would like to match this 'wildcard %' in MySQL.
I tried using escape \% and it is not working.

Answer 1

The default escape character is \. So just prefix % with a \ as: \%:

The manual clearly says:

To test for literal instances of a
wild-card character, precede it by the
escape character. If you do not
specify the ESCAPE character, “\” is
assumed.

Search for % in Stack%Overflow:

mysql> select 'Stack%Overflow' like '%\%%';
+------------------------------+
| 'Stack%Overflow' like '%\%%' |
+------------------------------+
|                            1 |  <----- Found
+------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Search for % in StackOverflow:

mysql> select 'StackOverflow' like '%\%%';
+-----------------------------+
| 'StackOverflow' like '%\%%' |
+-----------------------------+
|                           0 |   <----- Not Found
+-----------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

EDIT:

If you are calling this query from PHP, you’ll have to use \\. This is because even PHP uses \ as the escape character. So make MySQL get a \ you need to have \\ in PHP.