What best practices should be followed when handling session variables in PHP?

When handling session variables in PHP, it is important to follow best practices to ensure security and reliability. This includes regenerating session IDs regularly, validating and sanitizing input data before storing it in session variables, and avoiding storing sensitive information in session variables. 

// Start the session
session_start();

// Regenerate session ID to prevent session fixation attacks
session_regenerate_id(true);

// Validate and sanitize input data before storing it in session variables
$_SESSION['username'] = filter_var($_POST['username'], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

// Avoid storing sensitive information in session variables
unset($_SESSION['password']);

Keywords

session variables security encryption session hijacking session management

Related Questions