What are the best practices for debugging PHP code when session variables are not being created as expected?

When session variables are not being created as expected in PHP, it could be due to issues with session configuration, session_start() not being called before accessing session variables, or potential conflicts with other code. To debug this issue, start by checking if session_start() is being called at the beginning of the script and ensure that session variables are being set correctly.

<?php
session_start();

// Set session variable
$_SESSION['example'] = 'value';

// Retrieve session variable
$example = $_SESSION['example'];

// Debugging
if(isset($_SESSION['example'])) {
    echo 'Session variable "example" is set';
} else {
    echo 'Session variable "example" is not set';
}
?>