PartialSearchFilter: ESCAPE '\' causes ORA-01425 on Oracle

[FrancescoPileo]

API Platform version(s) affected: 4.3.10
(api-platform/doctrine-orm / api-platform/symfony)

Description
ApiPlatform\Doctrine\Orm\Filter\PartialSearchFilter generates SQL LIKE expressions with ESCAPE '\'.

On Oracle this fails with:

ORA-01425: escape character must be character string of length 1

In the executed SQL the escape clause appears as ESCAPE '\\' / ESCAPE '\\\\' (depending on logging), which Oracle rejects because the escape character is not a single-character string.

This affects both case-sensitive and case-insensitive modes, since both append the same ESCAPE '\' clause.

How to reproduce

1. Use API Platform 4.3.x with Doctrine ORM on an Oracle database.
2. Configure a collection operation with PartialSearchFilter:

use ApiPlatform\Doctrine\Orm\Filter\PartialSearchFilter;
use ApiPlatform\Metadata\GetCollection;
use ApiPlatform\Metadata\QueryParameter;

new GetCollection(
    uriTemplate: '/items',
    parameters: [
        'name' => new QueryParameter(
            filter: new PartialSearchFilter(),
            property: 'name',
        ),
    ],
)

3. Call:

GET /items?name=test

4. Observe the generated SQL containing something like:

LOWER(o.name) LIKE LOWER(:name_p1) ESCAPE '\\'

and Oracle raising ORA-01425.

Relevant code in PartialSearchFilter:

$field.' LIKE :'.$parameterName.' ESCAPE \'\\\''
// and
'LOWER('.$field.') LIKE LOWER(:'.$parameterName.') ESCAPE \'\\\''

with:

private function formatLikeValue(string $value): string
{
    return '%'.addcslashes($value, '\\%_').'%';
}

Possible Solution
Make the escape character configurable (constructor option), and/or use a DB-agnostic escape character that Oracle accepts (e.g. !), updating both:

• the ESCAPE '...' SQL clause
• formatLikeValue() escaping of %, _, and the escape character itself

Example approach:

public function __construct(
    private readonly bool $caseSensitive = false,
    private readonly string $escapeCharacter = '\\',
) {}

Then for Oracle consumers:

new PartialSearchFilter(escapeCharacter: '!')

Alternatively, detect the database platform and choose a safe default escape character for Oracle.

Additional Context

• Database: Oracle
• Error: Doctrine\DBAL\Exception\DriverException wrapping ORA-01425
• Workaround used locally: custom filter based on PartialSearchFilter, replacing \ with ! as escape character in both the SQL ESCAPE clause and value escaping.
• Same issue likely impacts any environment where ESCAPE '\' is not treated as a single-character literal.