diff --git a/wp-includes/formatting.php b/wp-includes/formatting.php
index cd3d723632..6c363bab2e 100644
--- a/wp-includes/formatting.php
+++ b/wp-includes/formatting.php
@@ -2061,6 +2061,21 @@ function clean_url( $url, $protocols = null, $context = 'display' ) {
 	return apply_filters('clean_url', $url, $original_url, $context);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Escapes data for use in a MySQL query
+ *
+ * This is just a handy shortcut for $wpdb->escape(), for completeness' sake
+ *
+ * @since 2.8.0
+ * @param string $sql Unescaped SQL data
+ * @return string The cleaned $sql
+ */
+function esc_sql( $sql ) {
+	global $wpdb;
+	return $wpdb->escape( $sql );
+}
+
+
 /**
  * Checks and cleans a URL.
  *