Help array is slicing up my sting from a DB at the white spaces between the word

[t0642k8]

Help ,
the script is executing nice , until it come to the section below.
The data out of the Database is a full string with whitespaces in
between each word. For example it the variable is "the quick brown fox"
the data retrieved from the array would be "the"

//###############################################
// Query DB for distinct Lab name
// ################################################
$count313 = 0;
$sql4 = "SELECT Distinct Event_title FROM `tevents`";
$result1 = mysql_query($sql4, $db);
while ($rows1 = mysql_fetch_row($result1)) {
$lab1 = $rows1[0];
fputs($handle, " lab1 from db ".$lab1."\n");

// add array stuff
$dlab[$count313] = $lab1;

$count313++;
}
//************************************************** ********************

// just to check whats in array
for($index1 = 0; $index1 < count($dlab); $index1++) {
$dlab1 = $dlab[$index1];


// ############################################
// ###### query array #########
// ############################################
for($index = 0; $index < count($d_lab); $index++) {
$cdp1 = $d_lab[$index] [0];
$labname = $d_lab[$index] [1];
$off_start = $d_lab[$index] [2];
$off_end = $d_lab[$index] [3];
$en_start = $d_lab[$index] [4];
$en_end = $d_lab[$index] [5];

$cin = $d_lab[$index] [6];
$uic = $d_lab[$index] [7];
$event_details = $d_lab[$index] [8];
$inst_hours = $d_lab[$index] [9];
$cin = $d_lab[$index] [10];

fputs($handle, " Whats gponf \n\n ");
fputs($handle, " dlab =\t".$dlab1." labname = ".$labname."\n");

if($labnumber != $lab1){ // this is to put label on
// problem here

// get lab number
$sql2 = "SELECT * FROM labs where labname = '".$labname."'";
$result = mysql_query($sql2, $db);
$rows = mysql_fetch_row($result);
$labnumber = $rows[2];

fputs($handle, "\t labnumber = ".$labname."\t lab1 =
".$lab1."\n");

fputs($handle, "\t not match\n");
$this->Cell(85,6,"Lab Number: ".$labnumber,'LR',0,'L',1);
$this->Cell(100,6,"Lab Name: ".$labname,'LR',0,'L',1);
$this->Cell(75,6,"Hours lost due to: ",'LR',0,'L',1);
$this->Ln();
$this->SetFillColor(255,0,0);
$this->SetTextColor(255);
// ################################################## ##########
// ######## decession .. does this match distinct ?? #######
// ################################################## ##########
fputs($handle, " ########## \n");
fputs($handle, " Does labname match dlab\n");

if($labname == $dlab1) {
fputs($handle, " Match\n");

foreach($col as $label=>$width)
{
$tw+=$width;
$this->Cell($width,7,$label,1,0,'C',1);
}