passing variables

Hello, I have been enjoying this forum for a few weeks now and learning very much, thank you to all who answer everyones questions. I now have a question. I need to pass a variable to an sql query that is nested inside 3 "do... while" statements. I am sure there is even an easier way to do this than all the "do... while" 's but this is the only idea that I had. I am still learning php and eager to learn more. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks Erik