Codeigniter LIKE with wildcard(%)

$this->db->like() automatically adds the %s and escapes the string. So all you need is

$this->db->like('title', $query);
$res = $this->db->get('film');

See the CI documentation for reference: CI 2, CI 3, CI 4

  $this->db->like('title', 'match', 'before'); 
 // Produces: WHERE title LIKE '%match' 

 $this->db->like('title', 'match', 'after'); 
// Produces: WHERE title LIKE 'match%' 

$this->db->like('title', 'match', 'both'); 
// Produces: WHERE title LIKE '%match%'