What are some best practices for ensuring that session variables are properly stored and accessed in PHP?

Session variables in PHP should be properly stored and accessed to ensure data integrity and security. To achieve this, it is recommended to start the session at the beginning of each PHP script, use session_start() function, store session variables using $_SESSION superglobal array, and sanitize user input before storing it in session variables.

// Start the session
session_start();

// Store session variables
$_SESSION['username'] = 'john_doe';
$_SESSION['email'] = 'john.doe@example.com';

// Access session variables
$username = $_SESSION['username'];
$email = $_SESSION['email'];