PHP & PostgreSQL

I'm having a bit of trouble getting predicates to work in a SELECT statement,
< WHERE fromlocation LIKE 'Leeds' > works but
< WHERE fromlocation LIKE '$xstart' > and
< WHERE fromlocation LIKE '".$xstart."' > do not. The contents of $xstart print out fine using: < print $_REQUEST['xstart'] ; >

I want to use the xstart variable as a predicate and according to the documentation I have seen, LIKE '$xstart' should work.

$query = "SELECT fromlocation,tolocation,driver,emptyseats,journeyd ate,text,return,dateentered FROM tjourney WHERE fromlocation LIKE '$xstart' order by 1,2,4";

Help,

Andy
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Red Hat Linux 9.0
PHP
PostgreSQL

Try adding:
Before you define your query ($query=sel...)

Cracked it! Many thanks