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Basic PHP Sessions

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Using Session Variables

Now we are going to make a second page. We again will start with session_start() (we need this on every page) - and we will access the session information we set on our first page. Notice we aren't passing any variables, they are all stored in the session.

Call this code mypage2.php

<?php
// this starts the session
session_start();

// echo variable from the session, we set this on our other page
echo "Our color value is ".$_SESSION['color'];
echo "Our size value is ".$_SESSION['size'];
echo "Our shape value is ".$_SESSION['shape'];
?>

All of the values are stored in the $_SESSION array, which we access here. Another way to show this is to simply run this code:

<?php
session_start();
Print_r ($_SESSION);
?>

You can also store an array within the session array. Let's go back to our mypage.php file and edit it slightly to do this:

<?php
session_start();

// makes an array
$colors=array('red', 'yellow', 'blue');
// adds it to our session
$_SESSION['color']=$colors;
$_SESSION['size']='small';
$_SESSION['shape']='round';
print "Done";
?>

Now let's run this on mypage2.php to show our new information: