Yeah you could do like:
Code:
$actions['val1'] = 'step1';
$actions['val2'] = 'step2';
// Then,
$action = $actions[$var];
Or, like it was also mentioned before, using a database:
Code:
// First, put the values into a mysql database like: value | action
// Then,
$action = @mysql_result(mysql_query('SELECT action FROM mySteps WHERE value=\''.mysql_escape_string($var).'\''),0);