PHP - IF Statement to compare / verify text

Fairly new to PHP - But I come from a fairly fluent Classic ASP VBScript background.

PHP 5.5 (?) - Somewhere in there. MySQL db.

• Have a MySQL table with a column [sale_status]


• 
  

  [sale_status] has values of "E" or "P" ("Expired" or "Pending", respectively)

  
  


• 
  

  I am looping through the table with PHP, and it displays all the values correctly ("E" or "P")

  
  


• 
  

  I am trying to do an "IF Statement" to do something when the value is "E" and something other thing for anything else.

  
  


• 
  

  My "IF Statement reads like...":

  
  

  
  $salestatus = {{sale_status}}
  
  if ($salestatus == "E") {
       echo ("YES");
  } ELSE {
       echo ("NO");
  }
  
  



• 
  

  For this, I get NO for everything (E and P).

  
  


• 
  

  I have tried === and strcmp and strcasecmp, but get the same thing.

  
  


• 
  

  I KNOW the values from {{sale_status}} are correct, because I can just echo that variable through the loop, and it display all the correct values.

  
  


• 
  

  For some reason, though, it will not distinguish E from P, or whatever.

  
  


• 
  

  In Classic ASP, it would be as simple as (if {sale_status} = "E", then ...) - and it works.

  
  


• 
  

  I know PHP has its own nuances, so that is what I am trying to learn.

  
  

Help is appreciated.