Thanks for your kind reply, John. I've not used the variable variable technique before but do recall reading about it in the PHP Bible. I'll give it a try. David John Krewson <krewsonj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 11/24/2003 01:33 PM To: php-db@xxxxxxxxxxxxx cc: Subject: Re: Extracting values from an array (I think) If you have to assign 24 unique variables rather than storing this data in an array, then you could apply some variable variable action. Here is a code sample that assumes you are looping through a result set from a database: query ="SELECT short_label FROM config ORDER BY meter_num"; $result= @MSSQL_QUERY($query) or die("Can't connect or something painfully obscure"); while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { ${$short_label}=$row["short_label"]; } That will, I believe, give you a list of variables/values such as: $short_label_1 = short_label_1 $short_label_2 = short_label_2 You can also adjust the variable name to your liking, such as: ${$short_label._counterPerhaps}=$row["short_label"]; The above should be correct, but I do admit that I don't use this technique daily. To bad you cannot just throw your values into an associative array and pluck them when needed using $key => $value type of combinations. -John -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php