form fields ---> non indexed array.... help

Ok, I looked through the archive I have (7500 messages) and didn't come up with crap. This is what Im trying to do... I have a form with lots of values pulled from a database. I want to (using post) place these variables into an array so that I can access the value from the name of the variable... so I have this field... <input type="text" name ="my_array_name[ form_var_name => form_var_value] value ="value_from_db"> and when Im all done I want my array to look like so... my_array_name[ form_var_name1 => form_var_value1 form_var_name2 => form_var_value2 form_var_name3 => form_var_value3 form_var_name 4=> form_var_value4] and so on.... I am having the problem that A) I dont know how to make the form place the variables in the array as I want... and B) what happens if one of those variables isnt there, or null string? Please help. Thanks, Dallask