echo gives me parse errors

[Anon]

hi all

i'm trying to parse this piece of code and i keep getting the error

Parse error: parse error, expecting ','' or';'' in /home/me/public_html/testapp/output_fns.php on line 340

here is the code for that section of the app, i am marking line 340

<?
if ($state == "none")
{
echo "<tr>
<td>State<font color="#FF0000">* <br>(US only)</font>:</td>
##LINE 340 --> <td align=top>
<select name=state size=1>
<option value="none" selected></option>
<OPTION VALUE="AL">Alabama</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="AK">Alaska</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="AS">American Samoa</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="AZ">Arizona</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="AR">Arkansas</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="CA">California</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="CO">Colorado</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="CT">Connecticut</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="DC">Washington D.C.</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="DE">Delaware</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="FL">Florida</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="FM">Fed States of Micronesia</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="GA">Georgia</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="GU">Guam</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="HI">Hawaii</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="ID">Idaho</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="IL">Illinois</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="IN">Indiana</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="IA">Iowa</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="KS">Kansas</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="KY">Kentucky</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="LA">Louisiana</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="ME">Maine</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="MP">Marianas Pacific</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="MH">Marshall Islands</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="MD">Maryland</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="MA">Massachusetts</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="MI">Michigan</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="MN">Minnesota</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="MS">Mississippi</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="MO">Missouri</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="MT">Montana</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="NE">Nebraska</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="NV">Nevada</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="NH">New Hampshire</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="NJ">New Jersey</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="NM">New Mexico</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="NY">New York</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="NC">North Carolina</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="ND">North Dakota</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="OH">Ohio</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="OK">Oklahoma</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="OR">Oregon</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="PA">Pennsylvania</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="PR">Puerto Rico</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="RI">Rhode Island</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="SC">South Carolina</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="SD">South Dakota</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="TN">Tennessee</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="TX">Texas</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="UT">Utah</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="VT">Vermont</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="VA">Virginia</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="VI">Virgin Islands (U.S.)</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="WA">Washington</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="WV">West Virginia</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="WI">Wisconsin</OPTION>
<OPTION VALUE="WY">Wyoming</OPTION>
</select></tr>";
}
?>

i'm basically using this to check a submitted form for the value the user selected in a 'state' drop down box, i am planning to expand this to an if else loop that checks ea state to see if it has been submitted, but i can't get past the parse error. i think it's just a syntax problem. any suggestions?

thanks
p.

[Anon]

you need to escape all of your double quotes inside your echo statement:
<OPTION VALUE=\"AL\">Alabama</OPTION>

or

just use single quotes to open and close your echo

echo '
<OPTION VALUE="AL">Alabama</OPTION>
';

the second option is easier and your script will run faster. You should always use single quotes whenever you don't need variable expansion.

[Anon]

i've used the same " syntax in other parts of the app and it didn't generate the same error. why is this?