title: why does my preg_match not work with a variable but yes with a direct number?
body: <p>When I do this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$row['id_number'] = 77088239;
  $check = preg_match('/"'. $row['id_number'] .'"/i' , json_encode($list));
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>or if I get a number from a mySQL query in a database, it <strong>doesn't</strong> work, even if the string is in the <code>$list</code>. Even putting the number as <code>"77088239"</code> doesn't work either.</p>
  
  <p>But when I do this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$row['id_number'] = 77088239;
  $check = preg_match('/77088239/i' , json_encode($list));
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Then it <strong>does</strong> work. Why is that?</p>