Destroying sessions in PHP - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Destroying sessions

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple PHP web application that uses sessions to keep track of user login status. When the user logs out, you want to safely destroy the session to protect their information.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to start a session, set session variables, and then properly destroy the session when the user logs out.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a session and set a session variable

Add a variable to track if the user is logged in

Write code to destroy the session safely

Print a message confirming the session is destroyed

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Websites use sessions to remember who you are when you log in. Destroying sessions properly helps keep your account safe when you log out.

💼 Career

Web developers need to manage sessions securely to protect user data and prevent unauthorized access.

1

Start a session and set a session variable

Write PHP code to start a session using session_start() and then set a session variable called username with the value 'Alice'.

PHP

<?php
session_start();
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use session_start() at the top to begin the session. Then assign the username to $_SESSION['username'].

2

Add a variable to track login status

Add a session variable called logged_in and set it to true to indicate the user is logged in.

PHP

<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION['username'] = 'Alice';
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Set $_SESSION['logged_in'] = true; to mark the user as logged in.

3

Destroy the session safely

Write PHP code to destroy the session safely by calling session_unset() and session_destroy().

PHP

<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION['username'] = 'Alice';
$_SESSION['logged_in'] = true;
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use session_unset() to clear all session variables, then session_destroy() to end the session.

4

Print confirmation message

Write a print statement to display the message 'Session destroyed successfully.'.

PHP

<?php
session_start();
session_unset();
session_destroy();
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print('Session destroyed successfully.'); to show the message.