problem comparing substrings and db field values

[fugix]

hey guys, i have my code set up to run substrings through a db to check for matches...even when there is a match it wont insert correctly

$result = mysql_query("select * from friends where userid=$userid");
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))  {

	$first_name = $row['first_name'];
	$last_name = $row['last_name'];
	$strpos_1 = strpos($friend_1, ' ');
	$substr_1 = substr($friend_1, 0, $strpos_1);
	$substr_2 = substr($friend_1, $strpos_1);

	if($substr_1 == $first_name && $substr_2 == $last_name) {

		$sql = "insert into fav_friends values('', '$userid', '$friend_1', '$friend_2', '$friend_3', '$friend_4', '$friend_5', '$friend_6')";
         		$query = mysql_query($sql);
        }
}

 

and i don't receive any errors, any thoughts?

 

[QuickOldCar]

why the empty '', for the mysql insert?

[fugix]

for my id field, it doesnt get past the if statement, so in there is where the error is

[btherl]

If it doesn't get past the "if", print out the values that are being compared.

[fugix]

thats the thing, i have already done that and $substr is the same as $row['first_name'], and the same for the second set...thats why im so confused...they are the same but for some reason its not passing the if statement.

[Pikachu2000]

Did you compare by using var_dump() or just echo? If they look the same, my bet is that there's whitespace tacked on to one value or the other.

[fugix]

thus far i only used echo, i will try var_dump() as well

[fugix]

yeah thats what it was, had a whitespace before my lastnames....nice pikachu...thanks guys for your help