Using PHP to populate a <select></select>?

Question

I want to populate the above tag with values from database.

I have written php code up to t

Answer 1

$selected_value="selected_value";
echo '';
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
    if($selected_value==htmlspecialchars($row['column_for_value']))
    $selected=' selected';
    else
    $selected='';
    echo ''
    .htmlspecialchars($row['column_for_label']).
    '';
}
echo '';

Some addition to Pascal MARTIN code, for auto selection of some predefined value