What best practices should be followed when using sessions to restrict access to certain files in PHP?

When using sessions to restrict access to certain files in PHP, it is important to properly set up session variables to track user authentication status. This can be done by setting a session variable upon successful login and checking for its presence before allowing access to restricted files. Additionally, it is recommended to use session_regenerate_id() to prevent session fixation attacks.

session_start();

if(!isset($_SESSION['authenticated']) || $_SESSION['authenticated'] !== true) {
    header("Location: login.php");
    exit();
}

// Restricted file content here