form.php?action=sign doesn"t work

If I type
echo("$action");
I get nothing written and if I try some code into a conditional
instruction like this
if($action == "sign"){
echo("ciao");
}
it doesn't work, but if I write
if($action == ""){
echo("ciao");
}
then it works fine meaning that it doesn't fill the $action variable
with the string declared in the address. Any hint would be appreciated
as I'm a complete newbie of php.
Thank you, bye

Re: form.php?action=sign doesn"t work

..oO(InuY4sha)

>If I type
> echo("$action");

You should get a notice. Set error_reporting to E_ALL in your php.ini.
Additionally read about register_globals and why it's turned off in
recent PHP versions. The value you're looking for can be found in
$_GET['action'].

Micha