What are some alternative methods, besides using cookies, to store and retrieve the order of elements on a webpage in PHP?

When storing and retrieving the order of elements on a webpage in PHP without using cookies, one alternative method is to use session variables. Session variables allow you to store data on the server side and associate it with a specific user session. This can be useful for maintaining the order of elements as the user navigates between pages on the website.

// Start the session
session_start();

// Store the order of elements in a session variable
$_SESSION['element_order'] = array('element1', 'element2', 'element3');

// Retrieve the order of elements from the session variable
$element_order = $_SESSION['element_order'];

// Output the order of elements
foreach ($element_order as $element) {
    echo $element . "<br>";
}