Interlacing two separate mysql queries

I'm trying to interlace the results from a left-join query with a regular select result. I have two tables: Aplications and States (state as in: the states of Florida and California). Each aplication in the Aplications table contains a state_id, which matches an id of a state in the States table. In the States table each state has a description that is it's full name (e.g. Virginia). So the tables look something like this: ##Table Aplications## Name Version Category State_Id Windows 2000 OS 2 FreeBSD 5.0 OS 7 ##Table States## id Descr 2 Washington 7 California Let's say my query and results are set up like: $sql = "select * from aplications"; $result = mysql_query($sql, $link); $row = @ mysql_fetch_array($result); I then feed the results into an html table that displays the software, using $row["Name"], $row["Version"] etc. BUT my problem is that I need a second sql statement that looksup and returns the state description, so that it's included in the table. So the html row for FreeBSD will look like: Name Version Category State FreeBSD 5.0 OS California I realize I need a left join sql statement, but what I don't understand is how to make a query for each piece of software and have the results displayed in a column of the html table. Btw I need a seperate state table because the states are used by other aplications apart from my own. I Hope I've been able to explain it correctly. Thanks, J __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com