PHP Country Option list adding “select” tag with checking String value?

I want to select a target country in html.

And this code should return for example “Turkey” from my db.

<?php echo $_SESSION['user']['www']?>

I have a country list, and I use it here in settings_myinfo.php :

<select id="profile-country" name="profile_country">
    <option value="Select your Country">Select your Country</option>
    <?php include($root."countries_optionlist.php");?>
</select>

countries_optionlist.php :

<option value="Afganistan">Afghanistan</option>
<option value="Albania">Albania</option>
<option value="Algeria">Algeria</option>
<option value="American Samoa">American Samoa</option>
<option value="Andorra">Andorra</option>
<option value="Angola">Angola</option>
<option value="Anguilla">Anguilla</option>
<option value="Antigua & Barbuda">Antigua & Barbuda</option>
<option value="Argentina">Argentina</option>
<option value="Armenia">Armenia</option>
<option value="Aruba">Aruba</option>
<option value="Australia">Australia</option>
<option value="Austria">Austria</option>
<option value="Azerbaijan">Azerbaijan</option>
<option value="Bahamas">Bahamas</option>
<option value="Bahrain">Bahrain</option>
<option value="Bangladesh">Bangladesh</option>
<option value="Barbados">Barbados</option>
and more...

I want to add selected tag to target country like this:

<option value="Turkey" selected>Turkey</option>

I did some research on Google and StackOverflow but I couldn’t find any solution. Could you provide me with a suggestion on how to achieve this?

Answer

In each option, you can check if the session variable matches that country and add the selected attribute.

<?php $user_country = $_SESSION['user']['www']; ?>

<option value="Afganistan" <?php if ($user_country == 'Afghanistan') echo 'selected'; ?>>Afghanistan</option>
<option value="Albania" <?php if ($user_country == 'Albania') echo 'selected'; ?>>Albania</option>
<option value="Algeria" <?php if ($user_country == 'Algeria') echo 'selected'; ?>>Algeria</option>
...

You can simplify this by putting all the country names in an array. Then you can loop like this:

<?php
$user_country = $_SESSION['user']['www'];
foreach ($countries as $country) { ?>
    <option value="<?php echo $country; ?>" <?php if ($user_country == $country) echo 'selected'; ?>>
        <?php echo htmlspecialchars($country); ?>
    </option>
    <?php
}