Correct output only if spaces between variables

But if there's a space, it messes up the output

[Jeremy_H]

I'm having some trouble with my simple PHP script. For some reason, it's outputting different variables depending if there is a space between them or not.

Unfortunately, the space will mess up the script.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

<?php
$sel1 = $_REQUEST['sel1'];
$folder = $_REQUEST['folder'];

$x=rand(52,71);

echo("/$folder/$sel1 $x 8.gif");
echo("<br>");
echo("/$folder/$sel1$x8.gif");
?>

Assuming $folder = "example" and $sel1 = "test" then, the first and second line outputs look like:

/example/test 56 8.gif
/example/test.gif

I need the output:

/example/test568.gif

What am I doing wrong here? Thanks so much for any help.

[timster]

Try this:

echo("/$folder/${sel1}${x}8.gif");

or this:

echo("/" . $folder . "/" . $sel1 . $x . "8.gif");

Use whatever you find easier to read.

[Jeremy_H]

Thank you Timster, I used the concatenate method (the second one), and it works fine.

Thanks again