What potential pitfalls should be considered when setting predefined values in <select> elements using PHP?

When setting predefined values in <select> elements using PHP, one potential pitfall to consider is that the predefined values may not match any of the options in the <select> element, leading to a blank selection. To avoid this issue, it's important to ensure that the predefined value matches one of the options in the <select> element.

&lt;?php
$predefined_value = &quot;option2&quot;; // Set the predefined value

$options = array(&quot;option1&quot;, &quot;option2&quot;, &quot;option3&quot;); // Define the options for the select element

echo &quot;&lt;select&gt;&quot;;
foreach($options as $option) {
    if($option == $predefined_value) {
        echo &quot;&lt;option value=&#039;$option&#039; selected&gt;$option&lt;/option&gt;&quot;;
    } else {
        echo &quot;&lt;option value=&#039;$option&#039;&gt;$option&lt;/option&gt;&quot;;
    }
}
echo &quot;&lt;/select&gt;&quot;;
?&gt;