Simple select statement help

There is probably a very simple answer to this question so excuse me for sounding dim but its driving me mad, can anyone tell me how to convert the following code to select only the results exactly equal to $var rather than all values like $var:

$query = "SELECT * FROM directory WHERE merchant LIKE \"%$var%\"";
	$result = mysql_query($query);

	while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
	{

Try:

$query = "SELECT * FROM directory WHERE merchant = '$var'";

Thanks mate, perfect

For more information, be sure to check out the MySQL Manual for LIKE syntax.