What are the advantages of using sessions for user authentication in PHP?

Using sessions for user authentication in PHP provides a secure and convenient way to manage user login sessions. Sessions store user information on the server side, making it more difficult for malicious users to tamper with the data. Additionally, sessions can easily track user activity and store user-specific data throughout their browsing session.

// Start a session to manage user authentication
session_start();

// Check if user is logged in
if(isset($_SESSION['user_id'])) {
    // User is logged in, perform authenticated actions
} else {
    // User is not logged in, redirect to login page
    header("Location: login.php");
    exit();
}