I am trying to assign an image src to a variable, that doesn't seem to work.  

I am pretty sure I am missing a `"` or a `'` but I have just about tried every combination now.  

The second issue I have is that I want to use two variables and concatenate doesn't seem to work.

see below: `$item.$image`

Any help would be appreciated. 

```
<li class="first">                                    
<?php
$image =  "<img src="<?php echo base_url() . "assets/" . "menuicon.png" />

if (!empty($pcategory)) 
{
   foreach ($pcategory as $key => $item) 
   {
      echo "<li><a href='" . site_url() . "cat/$key'>$item.$image</a></li>"; 
   } 
}
?>
</li>   

```