string manipulation problem

I've created a form page which I submit to itself for validation. I've defined my select list as a constant:

define("SELECT_LIST", "<select name=\"select_list\"><option value=\"option1\">option1</option><option value=\"option2\">option2</option></select>");

Code (markup):

This way I can get my form to remember which option was selected when the page reloads after submission. When the form page loads I use this code

$select_list = (isset($_POST[select_list])) ? str_replace("value=\"$_POST[select_list]\"", "value=\"$_POST[select_list]\" SELECTED", SELECT_LIST) : SELECT_LIST;

echo $select_list;

Code (markup):

However, some of the option values contain apostrophes and the above code doesn't work when I select those values. I can't seem to come up with any combination of escape characters that will make this code work.

 

Why you don't want do like this??

<select name="select_list">
    <option value="option1"<?php if(isset($_POST["select_list"]) && $_POST["select_list"]=="option1"){ echo(' selected="selected"'); } ?>>option1</option>
    <option value="option2"<?php if(isset($_POST["select_list"]) && $_POST["select_list"]=="option2"){ echo(' selected="selected"'); } ?>>option2</option>
</select>

Code (markup):

 

I'm using the same listbox in several different forms so I want to define it in a single PHP file and simply include that file in my form pages. Plus it involves a lot less code.

 

Got it working afterwords. Just had to use stripslashes on the POST variable.