Thanks for the responses but i don't think they are going to work...maybe i didn't explain myself good...

I have two tables

TABLE 1: postalcode (based on info added by user)

postcode (user entered)
cat_name (chosen from the list in the category table)
status (once user completed the above information this is changed to used)



TABLE 2: category (contains a complete list of pre made categories)

cat_id (just basic numbers)
cat_name (the categories that were pre populated there is like 50)

Now the first sql statement uses the postalcode table and outputs all the cat_name that are in a specific postal code

Example:
CAT
DOG
PIG

Below that I wanted a drop down menu with the complete list of categories from the category table but eliminating the ones already used (ie CAT DOG PIG would not be in the drop down)

My thought was that maybe it could be done by maybe an inner join and comparing the the cat_names and if they are the same not to output...but i can't get it to work...

Or maybe store the results of the first sql statement into an array and then compare the results of the second sql statement against the array and output accordingly.

i'm not that amazing at php i'm still learning...just by code online and playing around so I may totally be off base. But hopefully this gives you a better understanding and more information on what I am looking for.

Thanks again