[!--quoteo(post=363895:date=Apr 12 2006, 12:19 AM:name=sdaniels)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(sdaniels @ Apr 12 2006, 12:19 AM) [snapback]363895[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--] thanks for the help, it turens out that i have a different problem this code [code] $query = "SELECT user_sec_level FROM security_users WHERE user_name = '$name' AND user_password = '$password'"; $sec_level = @mysql_query($query); $_SESSION[seclevel] = $sec_level; [/code] the problem that $sec_level is a vale of 'resource id #5' i need it to be the value that is in that that location in the table.... im missing a step... any ideas? [/quote] TRY THIS Some changes have been made to the way you handle the variable $query = "SELECT user_sec_level FROM security_users WHERE user_name = '$name' AND user_password = '$password'"; $sec_level = @mysql_query($query); $set = mysql_fetch_array($sec_level); $security_level = $set["user_sec_level"]; $_SESSION[seclevel] = $security_level;