Help please

hi all, I my querying two tables in mysql the first table I query returns a list of software that I have. Then I query a second table that show me what is installed on a computer. I would then like to be able to display the first list but with a tick next to software installed on a computer. I have treid with making a function that reuten the full list of software but can not get it to to work function below. function software_list(&$software) # Software is a word or it can be empty. { $db_search = "SELECT software_name FROM software_list WHERE software_name LIKE '".$software."%'"; $db_result = mysql_query($db_search); $db_count = mysql_num_rows($db_result); while($sw_result = mysql_fetch_array($db_result)){ $temp = $sw_result[software_name]; for($i=0;$i<count($temp); $i++){ $sw_list = $temp; } return $sw_list; } } But when I go to print the return values in $sw_list all I get is my first value so can I get a full list to be return. I have been trying to print it by using the following for($i=0; $i<count(software_list($sw_list));$i++){ print software_list($sw_list); } If any one can help with the comparing of the two list and then display a tick next too any match that would be a great help too. Thank you Ben