$_SESSION variable not saving between pages PHP

Question

Im trying to save my username to the SESSION variable using a login system however it doesn't save.

I tried printing the session variable straight away in the same page and that works however when i go to another page, it won't save.

I'm very new this stuff so im sorry if it's something obvious :)

Any help will be much appreciated :)

PHP CODE 1:

$app->post('/api/customer/login/{Username}/{PassW}', function(Request $request, Response $response){
    $Username = $request->getParam('Username');
    $PassW = $request->getParam('PassW');

    $PassW = md5($PassW);//FIND NEW WAY OF HASHING AS MD5 IS DEPRECIATED
    $sql = "SELECT * FROM login WHERE Username= '$Username' AND PassW='$PassW' LIMIT 1";

    try{
        $db = new db();
        $db = $db->connect();

        $stmt = $db->query($sql);
        $result = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);

        if(count($result) == 1){
        session_start();      
        $_SESSION['Username'] = $Username;

       echo "<script type='text/javascript'>alert('Correct!');
       window.location='http://localhost/testing/dashboard.php';
       </script>";
        exit();

PHP CODE 2 (The next page):

This page is simply a HTML page with other stuff but has the below PHP code in its body to test if its saved the variable.

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

The result is that the page displays with an emtpy array where it should have my username inside. — early237, Apr 01 '18 at 17:25
you haven't started the session on PHP CODE 2 `session_start();` — Yash Karanke, Apr 01 '18 at 17:26
You need `session_start();` for sessions to work, add it to code 2 — James, Apr 01 '18 at 17:26
Sorry i have started the session. Its in the top part of the code... ill edit this — early237, Apr 01 '18 at 17:28
Please, see [PHP Session variable is not saving](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18436946/php-session-variable-is-not-saving). — Alexander, Apr 01 '18 at 17:32
Instead of md5, please use `password_hash($password,PASSWORD_BCRYPT)` , it is much better, secure and reliable — Yash Karanke, Apr 01 '18 at 17:34

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 01 '18 at 17:29

0

This code is missing the session_start(): PHP CODE 2 (The next page)

It should have been:

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

answered Apr 01 '18 at 17:29

rollstuhlfahrer

3,988
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i have the same code as u , but in wordpress, and it doesn't work – Tiago Medici Feb 27 '23 at 17:25

Noman · Answer 2 · 2018-04-01T18:02:11.640

whenever you use session on the page so you must start the session on that page so your code on code 2 page should be like this

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

also, add the same line on a login page

session_start();

if everything seems fine to you then try to remove the cache from your browser as you are using javascript to redirect the page and there might be a chance that browser is loading the page from cache.

$_SESSION variable not saving between pages PHP

2 Answers2