[flososic]

Im sure there is a simple function to do this i just do not know it. I have an html drop down menu. When the user selects an option I need to know how to tell php what option the user has selected. If there is another and better method to do this entirely im all ears. Thanks in advance.

[NeverMind]

let say you have this select:

Code:

<select name="GENDER" size="1">
<option>male</option>
<option>female</option>
</select>

now after you submit the form, you can access the value submitted by:

PHP Code:

$_POST['GENDER'];//the value is stored here. 

so you access the posted date by their name like $_POST['NAME_OF_FIELD']

[ibzi]

Don't forget, if the form's method is 'post' you need to use

PHP Code:

echo $_POST['GENDER']; 

And if it is 'get' use

PHP Code:

echo $_GET['GENDER']; 

You could always (if your PHP is updated) use this which will output it regardless of the method.

PHP Code:

echo $GENDER; 

[NeverMind]

You could always (if your PHP is updated) use this which will output it regardless of the method.

PHP Code:

echo $GENDER; 

this is a bad practice however! and it has nothing to do with PHP updates! it's the setting of register.global directive.
you shouldn't be lazy and use register globals! your software should know and restrict where it retraive data from $_POST or $_GET
anyway, you can use $_REQUEST array which will have the $_GET, $_POST and $_COOKIE variables inside it.

[ElitePHP]

if making a $http_post_vars['FORM_NAME']; if making a public script for anything less than php4.0

[NeverMind]

it's $HTTP_POST_VARS (all caps!) remember PHP is case-senstive for variables