diff --git a/includes/Config.php b/includes/Config.php
index 0940cd2..f5c77d0 100644
--- a/includes/Config.php
+++ b/includes/Config.php
@@ -169,9 +169,24 @@ class Config {
 	 */
 	public $sameNamespace;
 
+	/**
+	 * Caches the global $wgDBtype variable.
+	 * @var string $dbType;
+	 */
+	private $dbType;
+
 	public $enableConsoleOutput;
 	public $enableDebugConsoleOutput;
 
+	/**
+	 * Determines whether the MediaWiki database is SQLITE by inspecting the
+	 * $wgDBtype variable (which is cached in $this->dbType).
+	 * @return bool True if the database is SQLITE.
+	 */
+	public function sqliteDatabase() {
+		return $this->dbType === 'sqlite';
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Constructs a new Config object.
 	 *
@@ -197,6 +212,7 @@ class Config {
 		global $wgLinkTitlesEnableNoTargetMagicWord;
 		global $wgLinkTitlesCheckRedirect;
 		global $wgLinkTitlesSpecialPageReloadAfter;
+		global $wgDBtype;
 		$this->parseOnEdit = $wgLinkTitlesParseOnEdit;
 		$this->parseOnRender = $wgLinkTitlesParseOnRender;
 		$this->preferShortTitles = $wgLinkTitlesPreferShortTitles;
@@ -217,5 +233,6 @@ class Config {
 		$this->specialPageReloadAfter = $wgLinkTitlesSpecialPageReloadAfter;
 		$this->enableConsoleOutput = false;
 		$this->enableDebugConsoleOutput = false;
+		$this->dbType = $wgDBtype;
 	}
 }
diff --git a/includes/Targets.php b/includes/Targets.php
index d129d72..e88d042 100644
--- a/includes/Targets.php
+++ b/includes/Targets.php
@@ -74,6 +74,12 @@ class Targets {
 
 	private $config;
 
+	/**
+	 * Stores the CHAR_LENGTH function to be used with the database connection.
+	 * @var string $charLengthFunction
+	 */
+	private $charLengthFunction;
+
 	/**
 	 * The constructor is private to enforce using the singleton pattern.
 	 * @param  \Title $title
@@ -129,34 +135,25 @@ class Targets {
 		// = 0) are returned. Since the db may be sqlite, we need a try..catch
 		// structure because sqlite does not support the CHAR_LENGTH function.
 		$dbr = wfGetDB( DB_SLAVE );
-		try {
-			$this->queryResult = $dbr->select(
-				'page',
-				array( 'page_title', 'page_namespace' , "weight" => $weightSelect),
-				array_filter(
-					array(
-						'page_namespace IN ' . $namespacesClause,
-						'CHAR_LENGTH(page_title) >= ' . $this->config->minimumTitleLength,
-						$blackList,
-					)
-				),
-				__METHOD__,
-				array( 'ORDER BY' => 'weight ASC, CHAR_LENGTH(page_title) ' . $sortOrder )
-			);
-		} catch (Exception $e) {
-			$this->queryResult = $dbr->select(
-				'page',
-				array( 'page_title', 'page_namespace' , "weight" => $weightSelect ),
-				array_filter(
-					array(
-						'page_namespace IN ' . $namespacesClause,
-						'LENGTH(page_title) >= ' . $this->config->minimumTitleLength,
-						$blackList,
-					)
-				),
-				__METHOD__,
-				array( 'ORDER BY' => 'weight ASC, LENGTH(page_title) ' . $sortOrder )
-			);
+		$this->queryResult = $dbr->select(
+			'page',
+			array( 'page_title', 'page_namespace' , "weight" => $weightSelect),
+			array_filter(
+				array(
+					'page_namespace IN ' . $namespacesClause,
+					'CHAR_LENGTH(page_title) >= ' . $this->config->minimumTitleLength,
+					$blackList,
+				)
+			),
+			__METHOD__,
+			array( 'ORDER BY' => 'weight ASC, ' . $this->charLength() . '(page_title) ' . $sortOrder )
+		);
+	}
+
+	private function charLength() {
+		if ($this->charLengthFunction === null) {
+			$this->charLengthFunction = $this->config->sqliteDatabase() ? 'LENGTH' : 'CHAR_LENGTH';
 		}
+		return $this->charLengthFunction;
 	}
 }