hi i'm having a little problem on dealing with variables from user input

i am developing a way for a uaer to quickly and effiently enter information into a database. i am trying to do this by getting the user to put in a form how many rows of data he wants to put in the data base at a time. Then i am looping round the number of time the user has stated eg. a user say he wants to enter 5 row of data the script will output 5 sets of fields in the same form. But i have a problem when i come to naming the fields, i am using a counting technique and a printf statement to name the fields: name_1, name_2, etc but as that outputs as a varible name and not the contents of a varible i am having trouble looping round to creat a varible of that kind of name to get the result out. i have tried to look for information on that and or creating arrays with forms but i have had no luck with either. any help will be greatly appreciated many thanks jonathan weems