Processing a web form / loop etc.

I have a web form that accepts up to 3 suggested categories. In the form they are part of I have named these variables $suggested_category_1 $suggested_category_2 $suggested_category_3 I have come up with this simple code to store the suggestion in a table: if ( $suggested_category_1 <> "" ) { #the user could leave the suggestion blank because what is already provided is sufficient mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password); @mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database"); $query = "INSERT INTO table_name VALUES ( '$variable' , '$reference_number', '$suggested_category_1')"; mysql_query($query); mysql_close(); } Is there any way to create a loop to check all three instead of me repeating this code twice more changing $suggested_category_1 to _2 and _3 ? Ron