Setting a variable

I am just new to using variables, so be patient with me. I have set a variable on a content page in a php include script. It works fine.

I set is like this:

<?php
	include ('header.php');
       $cat='german sheperds';
	?>

Code (markup):

So I can use the variable $cat in an sql query successfully. I'd like to learn to use it in the script below that pulls in youtube videos. It gets the topic of the video from:

render=rss&tags=beagle+dogs'

What I want to know is how can I get the script to read tags=$cat

???? so it inserts german sheperds in the call?

Thanks so much.

<?php
require_once '/home2/mysite/public_html/examples/carp/carp.php';
CarpLoadPlugin('youtube.php');
CarpLoadPlugin('youtube.php');
CarpConf('iorder',',youtube');
CarpConf('maxitems',3);
$youtubeconf['width']=200;
$youtubeconf['height']=175;
$youtubeconf['language']='de';
$youtubeconf['after']='<hr>';
$youtubeconf['show-border']=1;
$youtubeconf['show-related']=0;
$youtubeconf['color-1']='000066';
$youtubeconf['color-2']='006633';
CarpConf('aiauthor','</i></b><br />');
CarpConf('cborder','date');
CarpConf('bilink','<b>');
CarpConf('ailink','</b><br>'); 
CarpConf('bcb','<h2>Beagle Dog Videos</h2><p><font size="2">');
CarpConf('bidate','<i>YouTube Video Uploaded on:'); 
CarpConf('aidate','</i><p>'); 
CarpConf('acb','</font>');
CarpConf('bca','<font size="1">');
CarpConf('aca','</font>'); 
CarpConf('aidesc','<p>');
CarpConf('acb','<p>');
CarpConf('maxidesc',400);



// Add any desired configuration settings before CarpCacheShow
// using "CarpConf" and other functions



// surround the item link with a DIV
CarpConf('bilink','<div style="background:#cccccc; width:200px; padding:2px; border:1px solid #333333;">');
CarpConf('ailink','</div>');

// get rid of the underline under the links
CarpConf('ilinkstyle','text-decoration:none');

// set the CSS classes of the channel and item links
CarpConf('clinkclass','h2');
CarpConf('ilinkclass','h2');

// Display it

CarpCacheShow('http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=qLeMq8782xG2oyVwCB2yXQ&_render=rss&tags=beagle+dogs');
echo '<p>';
CarpConf('iorder','link,desc');
CarpConfAdd('descriptiontags','|img|a|/a');


?>

Code (markup):

 

use: "render=rss&tags=$cat"
(double not single quotes)
or: 'render=rss&tags='.$cat

 

<?php
    // Your category here
    $cat = 'german sheperds';

    require_once '/home2/mysite/public_html/examples/carp/carp.php';
    CarpLoadPlugin('youtube.php');
    CarpLoadPlugin('youtube.php');
    CarpConf('iorder',',youtube');
    CarpConf('maxitems',3);
    $youtubeconf['width']=200;
    $youtubeconf['height']=175;
    $youtubeconf['language']='de';
    $youtubeconf['after']='<hr>';
    $youtubeconf['show-border']=1;
    $youtubeconf['show-related']=0;
    $youtubeconf['color-1']='000066';
    $youtubeconf['color-2']='006633';
    CarpConf('aiauthor','</i></b><br />');
    CarpConf('cborder','date');
    CarpConf('bilink','<b>');
    CarpConf('ailink','</b><br>'); 
    CarpConf('bcb','<h2>'.htmlentities(ucwords($cat)).' Videos</h2><p><font size="2">');
    CarpConf('bidate','<i>YouTube Video Uploaded on:'); 
    CarpConf('aidate','</i><p>'); 
    CarpConf('acb','</font>');
    CarpConf('bca','<font size="1">');
    CarpConf('aca','</font>'); 
    CarpConf('aidesc','<p>');
    CarpConf('acb','<p>');
    CarpConf('maxidesc',400);

    // Add any desired configuration settings before CarpCacheShow
    // using "CarpConf" and other functions

    // surround the item link with a DIV
    CarpConf('bilink','<div style="background:#cccccc; width:200px; padding:2px; border:1px solid #333333;">');
    CarpConf('ailink','</div>');

    // get rid of the underline under the links
    CarpConf('ilinkstyle','text-decoration:none');

    // set the CSS classes of the channel and item links
    CarpConf('clinkclass','h2');
    CarpConf('ilinkclass','h2');

    // Display it
    CarpCacheShow('http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=qLeMq8782xG2oyVwCB2yXQ&_render=rss&tags='.urlencode($cat));
    echo '<p>';
    CarpConf('iorder','link,desc');
    CarpConfAdd('descriptiontags','|img|a|/a');
?>

PHP: