reloading forms and keeping variables.

Hi I have a form that the user fills in which is then reloaded to check to all the fields are filled correctly, if they are not, variables are changed to the value of 1 which the page then picks up on and alerts the user to fill in each field that isn't correct, however, the page does not keep the values of the fields the user has filled in already, its as if the user just loaded the page. Is there any way to keep these values when the page is reloaded ? Here is a shorten example of the form layout and code I am using. Mark = 2, once the user clicks submit, to trigger the page to reload using $PHP_SELF and check for un entered fields like this one. if(!$Num_adults and $mark==2): $adult1=1; endif; <form action=\"$PHP_SELF\" method=\"post\"> form goes here triggered error message if($adult1==1): echo"error message"; endif; more form fields <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mark\" value=\"2\"> <submit> </form> Any help any one can give me with this would be greatly appreciated as I have ran out of ideas to keep the variables!! Many thanks Ade ! ------------------------------------------------------ ade@stormbreaker.com ------------------------------------------------------