help with query please

[hanyaz]

Hello,
I have the following query giving me umpty results, why ? It is even the case when the variable $region is present in the url

$region=$_GET['region']; //from url
$query = "SELECT a.*, p.name as parent, p.id as parentid, c.name as cat, c.id as catid, $name as user
FROM #__adsmanager_ads as a
LEFT JOIN #__adsmanager_adcat as adcat ON adcat.adid = a.id
LEFT JOIN #__users as u ON a.userid = u.id
LEFT JOIN #__adsmanager_categories as c ON adcat.catid = c.id
LEFT JOIN #__adsmanager_categories as p ON c.parent = p.id
WHERE $search and c.published = 1";

if (isset($region)) {
$query.= "and a.ad_region ='$region'";
}
$query.="GROUP BY a.id ORDER BY $order_text";

thanks in advance

[andrewsmd]

It's hard to tell without your table structure. Also, I would recommend not using as. I know it can abbreviate things, but it makes debugging harder because there is more to read and check. Just take the time and write out the full table name.full column name. I would try
WHERE $search = '1' and c.published = '1'";