Hi, I have a database with members details and PK is id. $thing = "July22@xxxxxxxxx"; $query = "SELECT id, email, familyname FROM members WHERE email=$thing"; $result = mysql_query($query); If i do a query where id=$thing. and $thing="20"; this works fine and I get the desired result. But what is wrong with the other one, when I do search for the email address?? The email address does exist exactly as quoted above in the "email" field in my "members" table but still doesn't produce any results. Any help is much appreciated. Harmeet -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php