passing a input variable to php

[Jay Cohen]

All 

I need help. I am trying to grab a variable from an input box and use is to do a search. 

I have 3 boxes State, City, Zip code and I want the user to select a state and then the state is used in the city search to only pull up cities from that state. 

I have an ajax script on my index page:

$(document).ready(function(){

$("#search-box-state").keyup(function(){

var state = $('#search-box-state').val();

$.ajax({

type: "POST",

url: "readState.php",

data:'keyword='+$(this).val(),

beforeSend: function(){

$("#search-box-state").css("background","#FFF");

},

success: function(data){

$("#suggesstion-box").show();

$("#suggesstion-box").html(data);

$("#search-box-state").css("background","#FFF");

}

});

});

});

function selectState(val) {

$("#search-box-state").val(val);

$("#suggesstion-box").hide();

}

the highlighted text is the variable and where the value is stored. On the next part of the script it enters readCity.php I am trying to get the variable to echo: 

$state = $_POST['state'];

error_reporting(E_ALL); ini_set('display_errors', 1);

#$sender = $_POST['state'];

#$receiver = $_POST['receiver'];

#$message = $_POST['message'];

echo"[ $state ]"; 

Every thing I try seems to not work. 

Any ideas?