database of all countries

[Seboko]

Hello all,
I want to create a web application. I need, in my application a dropdown list of ALL COUNTRIES in the world from which a user can choose one country. I certainly can not add this countries on my drop down list one by one. Is the a free online database containing all countries that one can query? How do other web developers do it?
Please help. :(

[bokeh]

What do you need the database for? Just put the countries into an array and loop through them to make the dropdown list. Once the drop down is selected by the user if for example the user was in Spain then with a press of the S key the menu automatically flicks to the countries starting with S. The following is the countries array and the code to output the drop down:<?php
$countries = array(
'Afghanistan', 'Albania', 'Algeria', 'Andorra', 'Angola', 'Antigua/Barbuda',
'Argentina', 'Armenia', 'Australia', 'Austria', 'Azerbaijan', 'Bahamas', 'Bahrain',
'Bangladesh', 'Barbados', 'Belarus', 'Belgium', 'Belize', 'Benin', 'Bhutan', 'Bolivia',
'Bosnia/Herzegovina', 'Botswana', 'Brazil', 'Brunei', 'Bulgaria', 'Burkina Faso',
'Burundi', 'Cambodia', 'Cameroon', 'Canada', 'Cape Verde', 'Central African Republic',
'Chad', 'Chile', 'China', 'Colombia', 'Comoros', 'Congo (Brazzaville)', 'Congo',
'Democratic Republic', 'Costa Rica', "Côte d'Ivoire", 'Croatia', 'Cuba', 'Cyprus',
'Czech Republic', 'Denmark', 'Djibouti', 'Dominica', 'Dominican Republic',
'East Timor', 'Ecuador', 'Egypt', 'El Salvador', 'Equatorial Guinea', 'Eritrea',
'Estonia', 'Ethiopia', 'Fiji', 'Finland', 'France', 'Gabon', 'Gambia', 'Georgia',
'Germany', 'Ghana', 'Greece', 'Grenada', 'Guatemala', 'Guinea', 'Guinea-Bissau',
'Guyana', 'Haiti', 'Honduras', 'Hungary', 'Iceland', 'India', 'Indonesia', 'Iran',
'Iraq', 'Ireland', 'Israel', 'Italy', 'Jamaica', 'Japan', 'Jordan', 'Kazakhstan',
'Kenya', 'Kiribati', 'Korea, North', 'Korea, South', 'Kuwait', 'Kyrgyzstan', 'Laos',
'Latvia', 'Lebanon', 'Lesotho', 'Liberia', 'Libya', 'Liechtenstein (75)', 'Lithuania',
'Luxembourg', 'Macedonia', 'Madagascar', 'Malawi', 'Malaysia', 'Maldives', 'Mali', 'Malta',
'Marshall Islands', 'Mauritania', 'Mauritius', 'Mexico', 'Micronesia', 'Moldova', 'Monaco',
'Mongolia', 'Morocco', 'Mozambique', 'Myanmar', 'Namibia', 'Nauru', 'Nepal', 'Netherlands',
'New Zealand', 'Nicaragua', 'Niger', 'Nigeria', 'Norway', 'Oman', 'Pakistan', 'Palau',
'Panama', 'Papua New Guinea', 'Paraguay', 'Peru', 'Philippines', 'Poland', 'Portugal',
'Qatar', 'Romania', 'Russia', 'Rwanda', 'Saint Kitts and Nevis', 'Saint Lucia',
'Saint Vincent/Grenadines', 'Samoa', 'San Marino', 'Sao Tome and Principe', 'Saudi Arabia',
'Senegal', 'Serbia and Montenegro', 'Seychelles', 'Sierra Leone', 'Singapore', 'Slovakia',
'Slovenia', 'Solomon Islands', 'Somalia', 'South Africa', 'Spain', 'Sri Lanka', 'Sudan',
'Suriname', 'Swaziland', 'Sweden', 'Switzerland', 'Syria', 'Taiwan', 'Tajikistan', 'Tanzania',
'Thailand', 'Togo', 'Tonga', 'Trinidad and Tobago', 'Tunisia', 'Turkey', 'Turkmenistan',
'Tuvalu', 'Uganda', 'Ukraine', 'United Arab Emirates', 'United Kingdom', 'United States',
'Uruguay', 'Uzbekistan', 'Vanuatu', 'Vatican City', 'Venezuela', 'Vietnam', 'Western Sahara',
'Yemen', 'Zambia', 'Zimbabwe'
);

print ' <select name="countries" id="countries" size="1">'."\n";
foreach($countries as $country){
print ' <option value="'.$country.'">'.$country.'</option>'."\n";
}
print ' </select>'."\n";

?>