What are the best practices for handling user sessions and authentication in PHP applications?

When handling user sessions and authentication in PHP applications, it is important to securely manage user sessions to prevent unauthorized access and protect user data. This can be achieved by using secure session handling techniques, such as using HTTPS, setting secure session cookies, and implementing proper user authentication mechanisms. 

// Start a secure session
session_start();

// Set session cookie parameters for security
$cookieParams = session_get_cookie_params();
session_set_cookie_params($cookieParams["lifetime"], $cookieParams["path"], $cookieParams["domain"], true, true);

// Implement user authentication mechanism
function authenticateUser($username, $password) {
    // Check username and password against database or other storage
    // Return true if authentication is successful, false otherwise
}

// Example usage of authenticateUser function
if (authenticateUser($username, $password)) {
    $_SESSION['authenticated'] = true;
} else {
    $_SESSION['authenticated'] = false;
}

Keywords

session management authentication PHP functions security cookies

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