php embed in html bug

Hi all,

I am pretty new to php. Here is one simple program I try to work out how php embed in html. It gives one funny result. In one occasion, I fill in only name and email, but not the message. The first time I click on submit button, it tell me the length of message is 0. Then I click on it one more time, it tell me the length is 2. Every time, we click the button, the lenght increase by 2.

Please help me to understand why it does that.

Thanks,
RDB

 

<?php
if (isset($_POST['name']))
{
 $name = $_POST['name'];  
 $email = $_POST['email'];
 $message = $_POST['message'];
 
 $errorstring = "";
 if (!$name)
 $errorstring = $errorstring."Name<br>";
 if (!$email)
 $errorstring = $errorstring."Email<br>";
 if (!$message)
 $errorstring = $errorstring."Message<br>";
 
 echo "The length of message is ".strlen($message);
 echo "<br>";

 if ($errorstring!="")
 echo "Please fill out the following fields:<br> $errorstring";
 else
 {

 echo "Success!";
 echo "<form action='formvalidation.php' method='POST'>";
 echo "</form>";

 }

}
?>

<form action="formvalidation.php" method='POST'>
Name: <input type='text' name='name' value='<?php echo $name; ?>'> <br>
Email: <input type='text' name='email' > <br>
Message: <textarea name='message' rows='5' cols='40'> <?php echo $message; ?> </textarea> <br>
<input type="submit" name="click" value='Send'> <br>
</form>

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