textarea form input converting &lt; and &gt; to < >

Hello, I have a few forms that are used to input html. We have run into a problem of &lt; and &gt; getting turned into < and > when you hit submit, Or if you hit submit more than once. I have attached a sample form. The major problem here is that some times we want &lt; and some times we want to input html tags. Has any one else run into this problem maybe even found a solution. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Byron <html> <head> <title>test form</title> </head> <body> <form method=post> <TEXTAREA NAME=test rows=10 cols=50><? echo $test; ?></textarea> <br> <INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="submitaction" VALUE="Submit"> </form> <br> what you typed <br> <? echo $test; ?> </body> </html> -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Byron Albert balbert@internet.com System Engineer Internet.com a Division of INT Media Group 203-662-2848 "Engineering does not require science. Science helps a lot but people built perfectly good brick walls long before they knew why cement works." -Alan Cox