form text box not showing data

I have a form with a text box that I want prepopulated with data. When I look at the source of the generated page, the data is there, it's just not showing in the text box. Please help.

echo "<FORM ACTION=\"modify_search_fields.php\" METHOD=POST>";
echo "<p><input type=hidden name=\"id\" value=\"".$id."\" /></p>";
echo "<p><b>Search Terms:</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;<textarea name=\"search_keywords\" cols=\"60\" rows=\"10\" value=\"".$search_keywords."\"></textarea></p>";
echo "<p>&nbsp;<input type=\"submit\" name=\"submit\" value=\"Modify Record\"></p><br />";
echo "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"check\" value=\"modify\" />";
echo "</FORM>";

 

the value of the textarea is not put in the value attribute, its instead placed in between the textarea tags

example
<textarea>value here</textarea>

 

Thanks, that did it. Funny how a little thing like that can make you crazy.

 

i fall onto the same traps once in a while