How to print variable name and contents

I want to write a trace procedure and call it with variable names, and I am having trouble with the syntax. My goal is to have a procedure that will echo lines such as: Trace: $myvar="the contents of $myvar My attempt that didn't work is to write a function: function my_trace($m){ echo ("\n<br>TRACE: $m = "); eval("\$t=\"$m\";"); echo($t."<br>\n"); } and call it with statements like: my_trace("\$my_var"); my_trace("\$_ENV[\"COMPUTERNAME\"]"); What am I doing wrong, and how should this be done? Also, should I post to a different group? Thanks, Gil Grodsky ggrodsky@charter.net