Highlighting a stored value as 'selected'

Is there an easier way to display/highlight the value stored in the database for a select option? Such as: Stored value is 'center'. The statement is: print '<select name="colalign">'; print '<option value="left">Left'; print '<option value="center">Center'; print '<option value="right">Right'; print '</select>'; I can have 3 sets of the above tied to 'if's but would rather ask for an easier or better way. Thanks in advance. Alp