seemed the only way to add a comment. One thing that's easy to forget is that if you string some variables like the example above, and the resulting length is SHORTER than what was originally in the receiving variable (o- string above) then"trailing"characters are left in place.
For example, if o- string contained "the string contains this data" and you string together "fred & Bert", then o- string will contain "fred & Bertontains this data" (if I counted right).
Summa summary, get into the habit of ALWAYS moving spaces into your receiving variable before you start stringing.