change the selected option in html select based on variable value

Question

My code is like

    echo("<td>$row[Status]</td>");
    echo("<td>
    <select name=\"choose\" id=\"Choose\" onChange=\"\">
    <option value=\"Unverified\">Unverified</option>
    <option value=\"Approved\">Approve</option>
    <option value=\"Decline\">Decline</option>
    <option value=\"Pending\">Pending</option>                   
    </select>
    </td>");

Here is what I want to do if ($row[Status] == Approved) then the code should change like this

.
.
<option value=\"Approved\" Selected>Approve</option>
.
.

The simplest way would be to create a simple if condition for all but there must be smarter way to do it. Any ideas?

I would prefer to keep it in php itself. And if you are going use a bit more complicated symbols like a => b Please explain why it is being used and what it does.

Answer 1

    echo("<td>$row[Status]</td>");
    $search= "$row[Status]\"";
    $replace= "$row[status]\" Selected";
    $subject="<td>
    <select name=\"choose\" id=\"Reason\" onChange=\"\">
         <option value=\"Unverified\">Unverified</option>
         <option value=\"Approved\">Approve</option>
         <option value=\"Decline\">Decline</option>
         <option value=\"Pending\">Pending</option>                     
         </select>
         </td>";
$subject=str_replace($search, $replace, $subject);
echo $subject;

I used the above and got my desired result... wasted an hour not knowing that str_replace would return the edited value and not replace $subject. Thanks everyone.