Newbie Question $2

Dear List - I have the following code: The input from the form is a 10 digit string [1234567890] which is converted to phone number format [123-456-7890] $phn = $_POST[phone]; $phn = (string)$phn; $dsh = '-'; $Phn = $phn[0].$phn[1].$phn[2].$dsh.$phn[3].$phn[4].$phn[5].$dsh.$phn[6].$phn[7].$phn[8].$phn[9];

    echo $Phn; // this is folded by Thunderbird.  In the script, it is //all on one line

    mysql_real_escape_string($Phn);
    $sql1 ='select Lname, Fname from Customers where Phone = $Phn ';
    echo $sql1; //this always shows $phn as Phn and not as a numerical //string.
    $result1 = mysqli_query($cxn, $sql1);

TIA Ethan