form variable name question

Hello, This is a question regarding form variables of the same name. According to the documentation, the variable must have "[]" at the end of its name in order for it to be interpreted as an array. example: <INPUT type=hidden name=user_ids value="123"> <INPUT type=hidden name=user_ids value="456"> <INPUT type=hidden name=user_ids value="789"> (returns last value) <INPUT type=hidden name=user_ids[] value="123"> <INPUT type=hidden name=user_ids[] value="456"> <INPUT type=hidden name=user_ids[] value="789"> (returns array of values) This seems to work fine, except when you try using javascript with these variable names. Depending on what you are trying to do, javascript can come up with syntax errors with "[]" in the variable name, and there isn't an easy way around it. I'm just wondering, why was the decision made to require "[]" in the variable name to return as an array? Is there an issue where PHP cannot determine the variable type on its own? I don't see a good reason for this limitation. If you want the last value, then the sensible solution would be to grab it off the end of the returned array after the form is submitted. Monte