Noob Question

[Shotgun Ninja]

Call me a noob. It's true.

How exactly does the session_start and other such functions work? I'm sure it's incredibly obvious, but I'm kinda strapped for time and resources.

[boogyman]

you need to declare the session at the very top of your page before anything is parsed / the session variables used

<?php 
session_start();

$_SESSION['user'] = $_SERVER['USER_AGENT'];
?>

[Shotgun Ninja]

Thanks, embarrassed.

[boogyman]

don't be... it wasnt too long ago that I had the very same question. thats the beauty of learning; we dont start with all the knowledge in the world

[djr33]

session_start() must be called before anything else on the page (ie output). To continue the session (at least to be sure it continues) you must include session_start() on every related page on the site.

Once the session is enabled, $_SESSION[...] will be available on any page and data will be carried through continuously. It will expire after perhaps 15 minutes of inactivity, closing the browser, etc. A "session" describes it well.

To end a session, it's a bit harder-- look at session_destroy() and related functions on php.net.