diff --git a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/js/datatables.js b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/js/datatables.js
index f6b079c794..197c2e09fd 100644
--- a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/js/datatables.js
+++ b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/js/datatables.js
@@ -578,8 +578,8 @@ jQuery.fn.dataTable.ext.errMode = function(settings, note, message) {
 
                                 function build_query(col, value){
 
-                                    // escape SQL special characters
-                                    value = value.replace(/(\%|\_|\\)/g, "\\$1" );
+                                    // escape SQL special character \
+                                    value = value.replace(/(\\)/g, "\\$1" );
 
                                     var parts = [];
                                     var attributes = col.data.split(':');
@@ -590,6 +590,9 @@ jQuery.fn.dataTable.ext.errMode = function(settings, note, message) {
                                         if ( value.match(/^\^(.*)\$$/) ) {
                                             value = value.replace(/^\^/, '').replace(/\$$/, '');
                                             criteria = "exact";
+                                        } else {
+                                           // escape SQL LIKE special characters % and _
+                                           value = value.replace(/(\%|\_)/g, "\\$1");
                                         }
                                         part[!attr.includes('.')?'me.'+attr:attr] = criteria === 'exact'
                                             ? value