if/elseif/else only returning first condition - php

Question

I am having 2 issues with the following if/elseif/else statement:
$rows = array();
$stmt = $dbconnection->query("SELECT * FROM TABLE_NAME WHERE data_field LIKE 'data_selection'");
if ($stmt) {
while ($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
array_push($rows, $row);
if ($row['something '] == 'selection1') {
$highlightsarray = array("gridHighlights" => 'text option 1 to display on site');
$highlights = $row + $highlightsarray;
} elseif ($row['something'] == 'selection2') {
$highlightsarray = array("gridHighlights" => 'text option 2 to display on site');
$highlights = $row + $highlightsarray;
} else {
$highlights = "<p>default messaging</p>";
}
$fields = $highlights; // this is a placeholder for other if statements I need to add
$output .= $modx->getChunk('chunk_name', $fields);
}
}
return $output;
}
The first issue I am having is that == is not returning any results, if I change that to = then it somewhat works.
If I make my statement ($row['something '] = 'selection1') (with just =), then it is only returning the first if condition, even if it is not true and should be returning either the elseif or else condition.
Not sure what I am doing wrong here, any assistance is greatly appreciated, thank you.

Answer 1

Closing this question, doing a var_dump as suggested and reviewing my strings got this working. Here is the final code used:
$rows = array();
$stmt = $dbconnection->query("SELECT * FROM TABLE_NAME WHERE data_field LIKE 'data_selection'");
if ($stmt) {
while ($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
array_push($rows, $row);
var_dump($row); // to review output
if ($row['something '] == NULL) {
$highlights = $row;
} elseif ($row['something'] == 'selection2') {
$highlightsarray = array("gridHighlights" => 'text option 2 to display on site');
$highlights = $row + $highlightsarray;
} elseif ($row['something'] == 'selection1') {
$highlightsarray = array("gridHighlights" => 'text option 1 to display on site');
$highlights = $row + $highlightsarray;
}
$fields = $highlights; // this is a placeholder for other if statements I need to add (like $fields = $highlights + $anotherIfStatement;)
$output .= $modx->getChunk('chunk_name', $fields);
}
}
return $output;
}