How can PHP sessions or hidden form fields be used to maintain variables across requests in a multi-page form submission process?

When dealing with a multi-page form submission process in PHP, you can maintain variables across requests by using PHP sessions or hidden form fields. Sessions store data on the server side and are accessible across multiple pages, while hidden form fields store data on the client side and pass it along with each form submission.

// Start a PHP session to store variables across requests
session_start();

// Set a session variable to store form data
$_SESSION['form_data'] = $_POST;

// Retrieve the form data from the session on subsequent pages
$form_data = $_SESSION['form_data'];

// Alternatively, use hidden form fields to pass data between pages
echo '<input type="hidden" name="variable_name" value="'.$_POST['variable_name'].'">';