[PHP] combining string values

[Tommy Atherton]

hi
 
I have a problem, I'm trying to combine the value of two strings
together into a final string. For example
 
$path = '/tmp/photos/';
$filename = 'pic1.jpg';
 
$finalvalue = $path + $filename; (I know that the + is not used its
there for explanation only)
 
The value for path will remain constant (for the time being at least
although) but the value for filename will be read from a database so
that will change.
 
Anyone care to help???
 
thanks in advance
 
Tommy