holding values in a select list on a form

Some help please... I am creating a select list from a database, and I am trying to hold the value of what has been selected by a user, while I do some error checking. It is searching a mysql db to pull out the list. It will then need to pass values back into the database. The code I am using is this... <? echo "<select name=\"FIELDNAME\">"; print "<option value=\"\">Select</option>"; for ($index = 0; $index < mysql_num_rows($query); $index++) { $row = mysql_fetch_row ($query) or die (mysql_error()); print "<option value=$row[1]>$row[1]</option>"; } echo "</select>"; ?> If there is an easier way, let me know.... Mark