I think you using wrong variable $checkComplete
if(trim($checkCompleteAssoc['WorkOrder']) == trim($wo)) {
//Do nothing
} else {
//WorkOrder does not match
echo "WorkOrder does not match!<br>".$wo." | ". $checkCompleteAssoc['WorkOrder']."<br>";
echo strlen($wo)."<br>";
echo strlen($checkCompleteAssoc['WorkOrder'])."<br>";
9
solved if statement returns false when values are outputting the same