How to Set and Get Data from a Session in PHP

In this tutorial, we will see how to set a session, how to retrieve data from a session, how to update data in a session, and how to delete a session in PHP.

Set and retrieve a session in php

To set a session in PHP, use the code below:

<?php
    // Start the session
    session_start();
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <body>
        <?php
            // Set session variables
            $_SESSION["username"] = "john2023";
            $_SESSION["logged"] = "yes";
            // Get the session variables
            echo "Your username is " . $_SESSION["username"] . ".<br>";
            echo "You are logged in " . $_SESSION["logged"] . ".";
        ?>
    </body>
</html>

Update a session in php

To update a session in PHP, we use the same code just change the values:

<?php
    // Start the session
    session_start();
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <body>
        <?php
            // Set session variables
            $_SESSION["username"] = "john2024";
            $_SESSION["logged"] = "yes";
            // Get the session variables
            echo "Your username is " . $_SESSION["username"] . ".<br>";
            echo "You are logged in " . $_SESSION["logged"] . ".";
        ?>
    </body>
</html>

Delete a session in php

To delete a session we use session_unset() and session_destroy():

<?php
    // Start the session
    session_start();
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <body>
        <?php
            // remove all session variables
            session_unset();
            // destroy the session
            session_destroy();
        ?>
    </body>
</html>