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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-15T19:05:08+00:00

At it’s simplest, if file_1.php contains <?php session_start(); $_SESSION[test_message] = Hello, world; header(Location: http://localhost/file_2.php);

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At it’s simplest, if file_1.php contains 

<?php

  session_start(); 

  $_SESSION["test_message"] = "Hello, world";

  header("Location: http://localhost/file_2.php");
?>

and file_2.php contains 

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN""http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>

<?php

  if (!(isset($_SESSION["test_message"])))
    echo "Test message is not set";
  else
    echo $_SESSION["test_message"];

var_dump($_SESSION);

  session_destroy();
?>

</body>
</html>

the result is Test message is not set and a var_dump($_SESSION) returns null – locally, with Xampp. However, if I upload those same files to a paid-for hosted web site, it works and I see 

Hello, world
array
  'test_message' => string 'Hello, world' (length=12)

When I look at PHPinfo under Xampp it shows Session Support enabled. What am I doing wrong?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    You’ve forgotten the session_start at the top of file_2.php

    So it should be:

    <?php
session_start(); 
?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN""http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>

<?php

  if (!(isset($_SESSION["test_message"])))
    echo "Test message is not set";
  else
    echo $_SESSION["test_message"];

var_dump($_SESSION);

  session_destroy();
?>

</body>
</html>

    session_start() should be at the top of every file where you need to access the session functions.

    EDIT:

    You should really use session_write_close before redirecting to another page.

    first file:

    <?php
session_start(); 

$_SESSION["test_message"] = "Hello, world";

session_write_close(); 
header("Location: http://localhost/file_2.php");
?>
    • 0