Session basics in Laravel - Step-by-Step Execution

Concept Flow - Session basics

User sends HTTP request

↓

Laravel reads session cookie

↓

Retrieve session data from storage

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Controller accesses/modifies session

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Laravel saves session data

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Response sent with updated session cookie

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User browser stores updated cookie

This flow shows how Laravel reads, modifies, and saves session data during a web request.

Execution Sample

Laravel

<?php
// Store data in session
session(['user_name' => 'Alice']);

// Retrieve data from session
$name = session('user_name');

// Remove data from session
session()->forget('user_name');

This code stores, retrieves, and removes a value in Laravel's session.

Execution Table

Step	Action	Session Data Before	Session Data After	Output/Result
1	Store 'user_name' => 'Alice'	{}	{"user_name": "Alice"}	No output
2	Retrieve 'user_name'	{"user_name": "Alice"}	{"user_name": "Alice"}	"Alice"
3	Remove 'user_name'	{"user_name": "Alice"}	{}	No output
4	Retrieve 'user_name' after removal	{}	{}	null (no value)

💡 Session data is empty after removal; retrieval returns null.

Variable Tracker

Variable	Start	After Step 1	After Step 2	After Step 3	After Step 4
session data	{}	{"user_name": "Alice"}	{"user_name": "Alice"}	{}	{}
$name	undefined	undefined	"Alice"	"Alice"	null

Key Moments - 2 Insights

Why does retrieving 'user_name' after removal return null?

Because in step 3 the 'user_name' key is removed from the session, so in step 4 it no longer exists, returning null as shown in the execution_table.

Does storing data in session immediately output anything?

No, storing data in session (step 1) changes session storage but does not produce output, as shown by 'No output' in the execution_table.

Visual Quiz - 3 Questions

Look at the execution table, what is the session data after step 1?

A {"user_name": "Alice"}

B {}

C null

D {"user_name": null}

💡 Hint

Check the 'Session Data After' column for step 1 in the execution_table.

At which step does the session data become empty again?

A Step 2

B Step 3

C Step 4

D Step 1

💡 Hint

Look at the 'Session Data After' column to see when the session data changes to {}.

If you try to retrieve 'user_name' before storing it, what would you get?

A "Alice"

B Error

C null

D Empty string

💡 Hint

Refer to the variable_tracker for $name before step 1 and after step 4.

Concept Snapshot

Laravel sessions store data across requests.
Use session(['key' => value]) to save data.
Retrieve with session('key').
Remove with session()->forget('key').
Session data persists until removed or expired.

Full Transcript

In Laravel, sessions let you save data between web requests. When a user sends a request, Laravel reads the session cookie and loads stored data. You can store data using session(['key' => value]), retrieve it with session('key'), and remove it with session()->forget('key'). After changes, Laravel saves the session data and sends an updated cookie back to the browser. This way, data like user names or preferences stay available as the user moves through the site. The execution table shows storing 'user_name' as 'Alice', retrieving it, removing it, and then trying to retrieve again returns null because the data was removed.