PHP $_SESSION empty after header redirect

Question

I'm losing the data in $_SESSION when I do a header redirect. When I walk through this with a debugger I can see all my data in $_SESSION before I exit();

Login.php :

...

if($result == 1){       
    header("Location: /myaccount.php");
    session_write_close();
    exit();
} else {
    header("Location: /login.php?invalid=yes");
    exit();
}

Then I put a breakpoint after the session_start() conditional below and $_SESSION is completely empty.

myaccount.php:

<?php
if(!isset($_SESSION['user_id'])) { session_start(); }

$docRoot = getenv("DOCUMENT_ROOT");
...

Where did my session go?

Michiel Pater · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-21 16:52:25Z

7

Make sure you are using the function session_start(); before the if-statement on myaccount.php

answered Feb 21, 2011 at 16:52

Michiel Pater

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2 Comments

doub1ejack Over a year ago

Well this was kind of the problem. I use that conditional on every page so that I don't try to call session_start() multiple times. There's always a user id in the session so that test works fine.. as long as I type it in right. It's actually 'userid'. Dumb mistake. Is there a way to just delete this worthless post?

Sk8erPeter Over a year ago

@sing1ejack: don't delete the post, it maybe useful for someone who faces the same problem. I was happy seeing your post, but I thought it's a bit more complex than forgetting the session_start();. :D In my case, it also doesn't work after header redirection, but I call session_start() every time I want to use $_SESSION variables, I set one in a file ($_SESSION['message'] = 'blahblah';), and when redirecting to another file with header(), $_SESSION array is empty. I also have redirected the session's save path to another directory, in which I can see the 'blahblah' message with text editor...

Carlos Campderrós · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-21 17:02:23Z

1

You should call session_start() on every page accessing (that is, reading or writing) $_SESSION, and call it before any access to the session array. So, be sure you call session_start() on both pages.

answered Feb 21, 2011 at 17:02

Carlos Campderrós

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Comments

brett · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-04 15:31:35Z

1

Yes don't delete post ... I had EXACTLY the same issue, and this post caused me to involuntarily smack palm firmly against forehead. And it fixed the problem (with my code that is, not my dumbness). Cheers!

answered Oct 4, 2013 at 15:31

brett

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