What role do sessions play in managing user authentication in PHP?

Sessions play a crucial role in managing user authentication in PHP by storing user data securely on the server-side. This allows the server to identify and authenticate users across multiple requests without having to resend credentials each time. By using sessions, PHP developers can create a secure and seamless authentication process for their web applications. 

<?php
session_start();

// Check if user is logged in
if(isset($_SESSION['user_id'])) {
    // User is authenticated
    echo 'Welcome, ' . $_SESSION['username'];
} else {
    // Redirect to login page
    header('Location: login.php');
    exit();
}
?>

Keywords

sessions user authentication PHP security management

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