MySQL Data Not Returned

Hi all, I have this really strange problem. Apache 2.0.50, MySQL 4.1.4a, and PHP 5.0.2. I have about 7000 records in a table called mailinglist, I will show you the sql to build the table: CREATE TABLE mailinglist ( id int(20) NOT NULL auto_increment, active char(1) NOT NULL default '1', sent char(1) NOT NULL default '0', isp varchar(2) NOT NULL default '0', fname varchar(30) NOT NULL default '', lname varchar(30) NOT NULL default '', office varchar(100) NOT NULL default '', fax varchar(30) NOT NULL default '', cellular varchar(30) NOT NULL default '', type varchar(20) NOT NULL default '', office_name varchar(100) NOT NULL default '', address varchar(255) NOT NULL default '', suite varchar(20) NOT NULL default '', city varchar(255) NOT NULL default '', state varchar(2) NOT NULL default '', zip mediumint(5) unsigned zerofill NOT NULL default '00000', email varchar(255) NOT NULL default '', new_id int(20) NOT NULL default '0', PRIMARY KEY (id) ) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8; So now that you know the details, here is the problem. I search the list like so: $email="someone@someone.com"; $query=mysqli_query($cnn,"SELECT * FROM mailinglist WHERE email='$email'"); When I do: Echo mysqli_num_rows($query); I get 0 back, The address I am searching is in the database, I have triple checked it with phpmyadmin. The only way I can get it to return the record I am looking for is to do this. $email="someone@someone.com"; $query=mysqli_query($cnn,"SELECT * FROM mailinglist WHERE email like '$email%'"); Then this finally returns 1. I have tried many different email addresses; nothing comes back, not even from the SQL query window within phpmyadmin v. 2.6.0-rc2 This has been puzzling me for hours on end. If anyone can provide any help, that would be great -Wendell Frohwein