How to compare 2 variables

[Claus Mygind]

I seem to be stuck on comparing two variables. Everything I have tried appears to say they are equal, but the If condition returns false every time.

Here is the problematic code

$cBoring    = str_pad(trim($this->r[$key]["BORING"]),5,' ',STR_PAD_LEFT);
 
$cContainer = str_pad(trim($this->r[$key]["CONTNUMB"]),3,' ',STR_PAD_LEFT);
 
$cKey = $this->r[$key]["JOBID"] . $cBoring . $cContainer;
 
$rKey = trim($this->r[$key]["reckey"]);
 
/*
I then use this simple test to check the values of each variable */
 
if (($rKey != $cKey) ){ 
  /* here I'm just checking to make sure they are the  */same type
    $rtype = gettype (  $rKey );
    $ctype = gettype (  $cKey );
 
/*here I'm just capturing the results for my ajax reponse*/    
$fErr =  $fErr .' r and c not the same=`'.$rKey.'`-`'.$cKey.'` rType='.$rtype.' cType='.$ctype;
}
 
 

here is the sample input data:
reckey = '83217 1680'
jobid = '83217'
boring = '1 '
CONTNUMB = '680'

The result of both $cKey and $rKey are as follows:

Type = string

Value = (Actual output) r and c not the same=`83217 1680`-`83217 1680` - this is the actual output delimited with the ` to show there are no leading or trailing spaces.

[Claus Mygind]

Never mind. Have to be careful when looking at spaces they get condensed in the output

A simple str_replace command showed the difference

        $Rval = str_replace(" ", "/", $rKey);
        $Cval = str_replace(" ", "/", $cKey);
 

and the result when the spaces were replaced with the slashes
looked like this

rType=83217/////1680
cType=83217////1680

one space missing. Well that was about 3 hours of wasted time.