Assign dynamic variable name problems??

I am having problems with assigning a variable name.

Part of the code is as follows:
my rss parser

function endElement($parser, $tagName) { 
	
        if (($tagName == "ITEM") or ($tagName == "GENERAL"))  { 
			$merchantName = htmlspecialchars(trim($this->merchant_name));
			$image = new GetImage;
			// just an test image URL
			$image->source =  'http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/12_01/17banksyES_468x606.jpg';
			$id =$this->id;
			$test = $merchantName.'-'.$id;
                        //$test = "thisWorks"
			$image->givenName = $test;
			$image->save_to = 'testfolder/'; // with trailing slash at the end
			$image->quality = '70';
			$get = $image->download('gd'); // using GD
			$this->id = "";
                        $this->title = "";
			$this->daisycon_unique_id = ""; 
                        $this->description = ""; 
			$this->img_small = "";
			$this->img_large = "";
			$this->minimum_price = "";
                        $this->link = ""; 
                        $this->insideitem = false; 
        } 

PHP:

Now part of the class code that doesn't work:

if(isSet($this->givenName)) {
	$new_name = $this->givenName.'.'.$new_image_ext;
} 

PHP:

When i use the dynamic variable $new_image_ext isn't being set. So i have something like shopAshop instead of shopAshop.jpg.

With test however i do have thisWorks.jpg being saved

Should i quote $test like

$image->givenName = "$test";

PHP:

Any tips?

i attached the class

 

ok, it turns out it isn't the class but the way rss parser.

With putty i notice the merchantname had chars like \n\t\t

How can i escape those special chars during the parsing of a xml feed?

 

[solved this one myself]