isset(checkbox) vs. isset(text)

Excuse the repost. I'm really curious if someone has an answer to this: It appears that a named input field of type "text" will always set a $GLOBALS[]variable in PHP4 (even if it's empty), while a named checkbox will only set the corresponding $GLOBALS[] variable if it is checked. -- <INPUT TYPE='text' NAME='text' VALUE=''> // empty <INPUT TYPE='checkbox' NAME='checkbox' VALUE='1'> // unchecked -- When submitting the above, both formfields empty/unchecked, this will be the result in PHP: isset($GLOBALS[text]); // = true isset($GLOBALS[checkbox]); // = false Is it meant to be this way? If so, could somebody please explain why? I find the above behaviour inconsistent, but perhaps I'm missing the obvious reason? In my mind any named form field should be returned as a set variable regardless of whether it has a value or not. /Johan Ekenberg