jQuery Autocomplete via PHP error -

i'm trying autocomplete working website i'm building company, can't seem jquery function execute. website build on top of wordpress.

the input line:

<strong>customer: </strong> <input type='text' name='cust' id='cust'> 

the autocomplete:

<script type='text/javascript'> jquery('#cust').autocomplete({     source : "scripts/cust_search.php",     minlength:1  }); 

and cust_search.php:

<? $term = trim(strip_tags($_get[ "term" ]));  $a_json = array (); $a_json_row = array ();  if ($companies = $panther->get_results("select cust_id, cust_name customer '%$term%' order cust_name asc;")) { while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($companies)) {     $a_json_row ["id"]=$panther->escape($row['cust_id']);     $a_json_row ["value"]=$panther->escape($row['cust_name']);     $a_json_row ["label"]=$panther->escape($row['cust_name']);      array_push($a_json, $a_json_row); } }  echo json_encode( $a_json ); ?> 

the problem seems sql query. missing statement

try

"select cust_id, cust_name customer  **cust_name** '%$term%' order cust_name asc;" 

instead:

"select cust_id, cust_name customer '%$term%' order cust_name asc;"