Starting a PHP Session

A session is started with the session_start() function.

Session variables are set with the PHP global variable: $_SESSION.

Now, let's create a new page called "demo_session1.php". In this page, we start a new PHP session and set some session variables:

Note: The session_start() function must be the very first thing in your document. Before any HTML tags.

Get PHP Session Variable Values

Next, we create another page called "demo_session2.php". From this page, we will access the session information we set on the first page ("demo_session1.php").

Notice that session variables are not passed individually to each new page, instead they are retrieved from the session we open at the beginning of each page (session_start()).

Also notice that all session variable values are stored in the global $_SESSION variable:

How does it work? How does it know it's me?

Most sessions set a user-key on the user's computer that looks something like this: 765487cf34ert8dede5a562e4f3a7e12. Then, when a session is opened on another page, it scans the computer for a user-key. If there is a match, it accesses that session, if not, it starts a new session.

Destroy a PHP Session

To remove all global session variables and destroy the session, use session_unset() and session_destroy():