PHP - Variable Variable Array

My login script stores the user's login name as $_SESSION[ 'name'] on login. For some unapparent reason, i'm getting errors stating that $user  and $priv are  undefined variables, though I've attempted to define $user as being equal to $_SESSION['name'], using $user to look up the the user's privilege level (stored as the su column ) in the SQL table, and then where the result of the sql query is $priv which is then evaluated in an if statement. I can't seem to figure out why this might not be working.

The code I'm using:

<?php
session_start();
function verify() {
	//verify that the user is logged in via the login page. Session_start has already been called. 
	if (!isset($_SESSION['loggedin'])) {
	header('Location: /index.html'); 
	exit;
	}
	//if user is logged in, we then lookup necessary privleges. $_SESSION['name'] was written with the login name upon login. Privleges   // are written in db as a single-digit integer of of 0 for users, 1 for administrators, and 2 for special users. 
        $user === $_SESSION['name'];
    //Connect to Databse
	$link = mysqli_connect("127.0.0.1", "database user", "password", "database");
	if (!$link) {
  	  echo "Error: Unable to connect to MySQL." . PHP_EOL;
    	echo "Debugging errno: " . mysqli_connect_errno() . PHP_EOL;
    	echo "Debugging error: " . mysqli_connect_error() . PHP_EOL;
    	exit;
        }
        //SQL Statement to lookup privlege information. 
       if ($result = mysqli_query($link, "SELECT su FROM accounts WHERE username = $user", MYSQLI_STORE_RESULT)) {
         //LOOP TO CYCLE THROUGH SQL RESULTS AND STORE Privlege information as vairable $priv.
            while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
           $priv === $row["su"];
            }
        }
        // close SQL connection.
        mysqli_close($link);

 // Verify privleges and take action. Only a privlege of "1" is allowed to view this page. A privlege of "2" indicates special 
//accounts used in other scripts that have certain indermediate additional functions, but are not trusted administrators. 

        if ($priv !== 1) {
        echo $_SESSION['name'];
        echo "you have privlege level of $priv";
        echo "<br>";
        echo 'Your account does not have the privleges necessary to view this page';
        exit;
        }
        
}
verify();
?>

Hey, im struggeling with a small piece of code....

Thats my code:

Global $user_ID;
$user_ID = get_current_user_id();

   echo"User number $user_ID is loggedin";

Echo gives me this:
"User number 2 is loggedin"

Now i want to add it to my array:
 

$atts['href'] .=  $user_ID . 'abc';

'href' is set to "https://test.com/"

What im getting now ist

https://test.com/abc

Can someone tell my why the '2' is missing??

 foreach ($joiners as $joiner) {

                $town = explode(',', $joiner['address']);

                if (isset($town[2])) {
                    $town = $town[2];
                    $get_available_towns[] = $town;

                    $get_available_towns = array();




                }

I use a CURL script API with the header "$headers[] = 'Content-Type: application/json';"

The script ends with "$result = curl_exec($ch);"

If I simply echo the $result to  my browser, I get an array that looks like this:

stdClass Object
(
    [fromAddress] => stdClass Object
        (
            [name] => Fred Sender
            [phone] => 203-111-0000
        )

    [toAddress] => stdClass Object
        (
            [name] => Susan Recipient
            [phone] => 919-555-1212
            
What is the absolute minimum I need to do to access the phone number in the "toAddress" (919-555-1212).

Do I really need to "json_decode" this array?

I've spent 2 1/2 days trying every which way, with every permutation to access that one value:

echo $result["fromAddress"]["phone"];
echo $result->fromAddress->phone;
echo $result[0]->fromAddress->phone
echo $arr[0]->fromAddress->phone; // $arr = json_decode($result);
echo $arr->fromAddress->phone;
echo $arr[0]->fromAddress->phone;
echo $arr[0]->fromAddress["phone"];

Unfortunately I must have fallen asleep during the array lesson in PHP class  ?

Thank you.