reading a file into a string problem : $string = join ('', file (/location/$dynamic.iq))

Hi, I wonder if someone can help me solve this niggling problem: I have a hyperlink [javascript:openwindow('http:myserver/files.php?expid=67.iq')], which passes the argument 'expid' to the PHP script, where 'expid' is the name of a file. I want to take the file data and put it into a string. When I do so by naming the file in the script it works fine e.g. $fcontents = join ('', file ('myserbver/files/67.iq')); But when I do $fcontents = join ('', file ('myserver/files/$expid')); // where $expid = 67.iq I get the following errors ----------- Warning: file("myserver/files/$expid") - No error in c:\program files\apache group\apache\htdocs\sasdap\v5\files.php on line 4 Warning: Bad arguments to join() in c:\program files\apache group\apache\htdocs\sasdap\v5\files.php on line 4 ----------- I've also tried $file_location="myserver/files/$expid"; $fcontents = join ('', file ('$file_location')); I'm new to PHP and am so far only working with the online documentation. Can anyone help and/or explain the problem? Thanks in advance ;-) - Best regards, Lee