What steps can be taken to ensure the proper initialization and management of session variables in PHP scripts to prevent errors and warnings?

Session variables in PHP scripts should be properly initialized and managed to prevent errors and warnings. To ensure this, always start the session at the beginning of the script using session_start() function, check if the session variable exists before using it to avoid undefined variable warnings, and properly unset or destroy session variables when they are no longer needed.

<?php
// Start the session
session_start();

// Check if the session variable exists before using it
if(isset($_SESSION['user_id'])) {
    $user_id = $_SESSION['user_id'];
    // Do something with $user_id
}

// Unset or destroy session variables when they are no longer needed
unset($_SESSION['user_id']);
// OR
// session_destroy();
?>