<?php $sql = "SELECT id, name FROM specialty ORDER BY name";
$res = mysql_query($sql) or die (mysql_error()."<p>$sql</p>");

echo "<SELECT MULTIPLE SIZE=9 value='multiselect' name='category'>\n";
echo "<option value=''>- select category -</option>\n"; 
$prev = '';
while (list($id, $name) = mysql_fetch_row($res)) {
    $gp = strtoupper($name{0});
    if ($prev != $gp) {
		if ($prev) echo "</optgroup>\n";
        echo "<optgroup label='$gp'>\n";
        $prev = $gp;
    }
    echo "<option value='$id'>$name</option>\n";
}
echo "</optgroup>\n</SELECT>\n";
?>

i hope some can help me with this im trying to have the categories in the optgroup and displaying all the fields that are related to this category im using 2 tables

-cat
.id
.name

-items
.id
.idcat
.itemname

i want the dropdown to display like this

Cat1
-itemname1
-itemname2
Cat2
-itemname1
-itemname2


please help me thank you

It's a bit unclear what you want but I'll try. Im not really *that* good with SQL yet, though, but how about this?

PHP Code:

// The SQL query
// SELECT name, items.id as itemID, itemname FROM cat,items WHERE cat.id=items.idcat GROUP BY name

// run query etc.

$prev = '';
$newGroup = false;
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { // or use fetch_row if you prefer that
   $newGroup = ($prev == $row['name']) ? false : true;
   $prev = $row['name'];
   if ($newGroup) {
      $group = ucfirst($row['name']); // first capital letter
      echo "<optgroup label=\"$group\">";
   }
   echo "<select value=\"" . $row['itemID'] . "\">" . $row['itemname'] . "</select>";
   if ($newGroup) {
      echo "</optgroup>";
   }
}