Thanks for the responce.. I tried the query but php is barking at me for it.
$cmdstr = 'select app_user from application$_user where = "BLAH"';

Error:
Warning: ociexecute() [function.ociexecute]: ORA-00904: "BLAH": invalid identifier in C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\htdocs\opera\myconnectiontest7.php on line 7

Warning: ocifetchstatement() [function.ocifetchstatement]: ORA-24374: define not done before fetch or execute and fetch in C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\htdocs\opera\myconnectiontest7.php on line 9

This is so confusing I know I should be able to use double quotes and it works fine with Sql, I wonder if it is maybe a configuration change that needs to be done in php.ini??