Check codeigniter query errors instead of showing them to the user

In application/config/database.php set

// suppress error output to the screen
$db['default']['db_debug'] = FALSE;

In your model or controller:

// try the select.
$dbRet = $this->db->select($table, $dataArray);
// select has had some problem.
if( !$dbRet )
{
   $errNo   = $this->db->_error_number();
   $errMess = $this->db->_error_message();
   // Do something with the error message or just show_404();
}

You can try this $this->db->error(); , this will get you the ErrorCode & Errormessage in array format.