Index: meta.php
===================================================================
--- meta.php	(revision 23381)
+++ meta.php	(working copy)
@@ -672,7 +672,7 @@
 		$meta_query = array();
 
 		// Simple query needs to be first for orderby=meta_value to work correctly
-		foreach ( array( 'key', 'compare', 'type' ) as $key ) {
+		foreach ( array( 'key', 'compare', 'type', 'like_escape' ) as $key ) {
 			if ( !empty( $qv[ "meta_$key" ] ) )
 				$meta_query[0][ $key ] = $qv[ "meta_$key" ];
 		}
@@ -737,6 +737,7 @@
 		foreach ( $queries as $k => $q ) {
 			$meta_key = isset( $q['key'] ) ? trim( $q['key'] ) : '';
 			$meta_type = isset( $q['type'] ) ? strtoupper( $q['type'] ) : 'CHAR';
+			$meta_like_escape = isset( $q['like_escape'] ) ? trim( $q['like_escape'] ) : false;
 
 			if ( 'NUMERIC' == $meta_type )
 				$meta_type = 'SIGNED';
@@ -803,6 +804,8 @@
 			} elseif ( 'BETWEEN' == substr( $meta_compare, -7) ) {
 				$meta_value = array_slice( $meta_value, 0, 2 );
 				$meta_compare_string = '%s AND %s';
+			} elseif ( 'LIKE' == substr( $meta_compare, -4 ) && $meta_like_escape ) {
+				$meta_compare_string = '%s';
 			} elseif ( 'LIKE' == substr( $meta_compare, -4 ) ) {
 				$meta_value = '%' . like_escape( $meta_value ) . '%';
 				$meta_compare_string = '%s';