CGI question

Hello,
I am using the CGI class to create a web page.
I need a drop down list. I have a formatted string in a DB table for
the values.
How can I access the variable?

           cgi.option('value'=>'pathway') { "KEGG/PATHWAY" } +
            cgi.option('value'=>'brite') { "KEGG/BRITE" } +
            cgi.option('value'=>'genes') { "KEGG/GENES" } +

I'm trying this:

cgi.option( myformattedstring) { " some text"}+

The problem is that I cannot use 'myformattedstring' variable.

I declare it like this:
myformattedstring << " \'value\'=>\'red\' "

Any thoughts on how I can get this working?

Thanks in advance