read html controls from php

Hello,
I am a newbe at php.
If I was to have multiple html pages, and the main html page I am posting to a second page
<form method="POST" name="firstForm" action="secondForm.php"

On the second php page I would like to read all of the html controls in PHP.

$addressZip=isset($_POST['addressZip'])?$_POST['addressZip']:"";

Can this be done?
Do all of the html files get combined already, so it won't matter?

thanks

 

what do you mean by "html controls"? do you mean values summited via the form?

 

My lingo might not be correct.
But when I say html control, I mean like a slef
<td width=40% align='left'><input class='inputField' type='text' name='installDate' value='<?=$today?>' </td>
Or checkbox
<td colspan='2' class='normal'><input type='checkbox' name='testCheck'>test</td>