Are there best practices for handling user sessions in PHP to ensure accurate online/offline status?

To ensure accurate online/offline status for users in PHP, it's best to use a combination of session variables and database updates. When a user logs in, set a session variable to indicate their online status. Regularly update a timestamp in the database to show the last activity time of the user. By checking the session variable and comparing it with the last activity time in the database, you can accurately determine the online/offline status of users.

// Start or resume the session
session_start();

// Set user online status in session
$_SESSION['online_status'] = true;

// Update last activity time in the database
// Assuming $userId is the user's ID and $connection is the database connection
$query = "UPDATE users SET last_activity = NOW() WHERE id = $userId";
mysqli_query($connection, $query);