[SOLVED] base_url from controller?

[eluser]wakey[/eluser]
I have the URL helper loaded in the autoload.php - I think this is a case of me being a bit thick!

This is the line that I am echoing from the controller to my view -

Code:

echo "<li><href = '$url"."admin/$row->admission'><strong>$row->surname</strong>&nbsp;$row->first_name</a></li>";

(Changed so that I can add it to the forum - didn't realise it blocked urls)

So basically I would need the base_url(); to replace the $url variable but I can't seem to get it in the correct syntax!