diff --git a/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php b/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php
index a164552..9dc6976 100644
--- a/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php
+++ b/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@
 
 		// This function may get "item1 item2" as a string, and so
 		// we may need "`item1` `item2`" and not "`item1 item2`"
-		if (strpos($item, ' ') !== FALSE)
+		if (ctype_alnum($item) !== FALSE)
 		{
 			// This function may get "field >= 1", and need it to return "`field` >= 1"
 			if ($first_word_only === TRUE)
@@ -462,6 +462,10 @@
 
 			$item = preg_replace('/(^|\s|\()([\w\d\-\_]+?)(\s|\)|$)/iS', '$1`$2`$3', $item);
 		}
+		else
+		{
+			return "`{$item}`";
+		}
 
 		$exceptions = array('AS', '/', '-', '%', '+', '*');