pop textarea field w/ text incl. quotes

I seem to be stuck on a very simple (to me) issue. I am trying to build a database of links for a site. A user inputs an HTML link into a text box which is stored in a SQL db. This works fine. I need to display this data on pages, and retrieving it into the page displays fine as well. The problem arises when I need to provide a means to edit this link. Here's what I've got: Link as stored in db: <a href="http://winners-circle.com">Winners Circle Design Group</a> variants I've tried to store: <a href=\"http://winners-circle.com\">Winners Circle Design Group</a> <a href=\\\"http://winners-circle.com\\\">Winners Circle Design Group</a> <a href='http://winners-circle.com'>Winners Circle Design Group</a> All result in the textarea box in the form being populated with (basicly all the output to the end of the page): Winners Circle Design Group</a>"></form></td>\n </tr> <tr> <th width = "40%" align = "right">Created:</th> <td width = "60%">20010221195310</td> </tr> <tr> <th width = "40%" align = "right">Last Modified:</th> <td width = "60%">20010219104604</td> </tr> </table> </div> </body> </html> I'm sure that the answer is right in front of me, but my heads bleeding to badly from hitting the wall so many times, I can't see it! -- Paul