Forum Moderators: coopster
This really isn't a PHP issue. You can make any item in a drop down list to be a default selection by adding the word selected.
Here's a snippet from one of my drop down lists. The first item is automatically selected. While this list appears on a PHP page, the form elements follow standard markup.
<select>
<option value="cart info" selected>Item 1</option>
<option value="cart info">Item 2</option>
<option value="cart info">Item 3</option>
</select>