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<title>Encodes the current session data as a session encoded string</title>
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<h1 class="refname">session_encode</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">session_encode</span> — <span class="dc-title">Encodes the current session data as a session encoded string</span></p>
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<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.session-encode-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">string</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>session_encode</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam">void</span>
)</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
<span class="function"><strong>session_encode()</strong></span> returns a serialized string of the
contents of the current session data stored in the $_SESSION superglobal.
</p>
<p class="para">
Please note, the serialization method is not the same as <span class="function"><a href="function.serialize.html" class="function">serialize()</a></span>.
The serialization method is internal to PHP and can be set using <a href="session.configuration.html#ini.session.serialize-handler" class="link">session.serialize_handler</a>.
</p>
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<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.session-encode-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns the contents of the current session encoded.
</p>
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<div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-function.session-encode-notes">
<h3 class="title">Notes</h3>
<div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong>
<p class="para">
Must call <span class="function"><a href="function.session-start.html" class="function">session_start()</a></span> before using <span class="function"><a href="function.session-decode.html" class="function">session_decode()</a></span>.
</p>
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<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.session-encode-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.session-decode.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">session_decode()</a> - Decodes session data from a session encoded string</span></li>
<li class="member"><a href="session.configuration.html#ini.session.serialize-handler" class="link">session.serialize_handler</a></li>
</ul>
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