# BuildOptionList()

Creates a set of `<option>` tags that you can integrate into an HTML form on webpage.

## Availability

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Marketing Cloud Engagement</td>
    <td>✅ Yes</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Marketing Cloud Next</td>
    <td>❌ No</td>
  </tr>
</table>

## Syntax

```
BuildOptionList(defaultSelection,
                option1Value, option1Text,
                [option2Value, option2Text] ... )
```

The `BuildOptionList()` function has three parameters:

- `defaultSelection` (string or number): Required. The option that is selected by default.
- `option1Value` (string): Required. An identifier for the first option. The function sets the `value` parameter in the `<option>` tag to this value.
- `option1Text` (string): Required. The display text for the option tag.

Each option in the list requires a value and a display text. You can create as many options as you need by appending them to the end of the function (`option2Value`, `option2Text`...).

## Usage

To use this function, specify a default selection, and a value and display name for each option that you want to generate.

This example creates a short list of options, and embeds it in an HTML form that asks the user to choose one:

```
%%[
set @DefaultOption = 2
set @OptionList = BuildOptionList(@DefaultOption,
                                  "1", "Option A",
                                  "2", "Option B",
                                  "3", "Option C")
]%%
<p>Choose an option:</p>
<select name="choice">
%%=v(@OptionList)=%%
</select>
```

The example outputs this HTML code.

```html
<p>Choose an option:</p>
<select name="choice">
  <option value="1">Option A</option>
  <option value="2" selected="selected">Option B</option>
  <option value="3">Option C</option>
</select>
```

In a web browser, the generated code resembles this example.

![A simple HTML form that contains a dropdown list. The text "Choose an option" is shown above the list. In the list itself, Option B is chosen by default.](https://a.sfdcstatic.com/developer-website/sfdocs/marketing-cloud/media/images/ampscript/mc-ampscript-reference-content-build-option-list.png)