HTML Attribute for <OPTION ...>
VALUE

VALUE indicates the value that is sent to the server if that option is chosen. The value of VALUE is not seen by the user.

this code produces this select list 
<SELECT NAME="partnumber">
<OPTION VALUE="7382">steam turbine
<OPTION VALUE="2928">resistor array
<OPTION VALUE="3993">widget analyzer
<OPTION VALUE="9398">fiber identifier
</SELECT>

(Form is not live)

In this example, if you selected the first option, "steam turbine", then the name/value pair

partnumber=7382

is sent to the CGI.

<OPTION SELECTED> >