[RESOLVED] PHP and textarea

[robkir]

I'm confused (nothing new there). Sorry to ask such basic questions, but things are only obvious when they are understood.

I have a simple update user information html form and I am trying to put in a text area for user comments.

When I can get the current value to show on the form (the code below doesn't show) and I make changes, it adds space. I've tried to search for an answer but I can't seem to find anybody who can clearly explain it.

Here's what I have now --

<tr><td>Comments:</td><td><textarea name="ud_comment" value= "<? echo "$comment"?>" cols="20"  style="height: 150px" ></textarea>

Also, while we are on the subject of HTML. It seems to me that I would always want to use htmlentities() to check user input. It seems to take care of / @ " '. Or am I wrong?

$comment=htmlentities($comment,ENT_QUOTES);

Thanks,
robkir

[djjjozsi]

textarea hasn't got a value tag.

echo 'comment: <textarea name="comment">'.    (!empty($comment) ? htmlspecialchars($comment):"" ).'</textarea><br />    '."\n";