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<title>Register one or more global variables with the current session</title>
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<h1 class="refname">session_register</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5 < 5.4.0)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">session_register</span> — <span class="dc-title">Register one or more global variables with the current session</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.session-register-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">bool</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>session_register</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <code class="parameter">$name</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <code class="parameter">$...</code></span>
] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
<span class="function"><strong>session_register()</strong></span> accepts a variable number of
arguments, any of which can be either a string holding the name of a
variable or an array consisting of variable names or other arrays. For
each name, <span class="function"><strong>session_register()</strong></span> registers the global
variable with that name in the current session.
</p>
<p class="para">
You can also create a session variable by simply setting the
appropriate member of the <var class="varname"><var class="varname"><a href="reserved.variables.session.html" class="classname">$_SESSION</a></var></var>
or <var class="varname"><var class="varname">$HTTP_SESSION_VARS</var></var> (PHP < 4.1.0) array.
<div class="informalexample">
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Use of session_register() is deprecated<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$barney </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"A big purple dinosaur."</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">session_register</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"barney"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Use of $_SESSION is preferred, as of PHP 4.1.0<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$_SESSION</span><span style="color: #007700">[</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"zim"</span><span style="color: #007700">] = </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"An invader from another planet."</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// The old way was to use $HTTP_SESSION_VARS<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$HTTP_SESSION_VARS</span><span style="color: #007700">[</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"spongebob"</span><span style="color: #007700">] = </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"He's got square pants."</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
<p class="para">
If <span class="function"><a href="function.session-start.html" class="function">session_start()</a></span> was not called before this function
is called, an implicit call to <span class="function"><a href="function.session-start.html" class="function">session_start()</a></span> with no
parameters will be made. <var class="varname"><var class="varname"><a href="reserved.variables.session.html" class="classname">$_SESSION</a></var></var> does not mimic
this behavior and requires <span class="function"><a href="function.session-start.html" class="function">session_start()</a></span> before use.
</p>
<div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong><p class="simpara">This function has been
<em class="emphasis">DEPRECATED</em> as of PHP 5.3.0 and <em class="emphasis">REMOVED</em> as of PHP 5.4.0.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.session-register-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">name</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
A string holding the name of a variable or an array consisting of
variable names or other arrays.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">...</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.session-register-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns <strong><code>TRUE</code></strong> on success or <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> on failure.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-function.session-register-notes">
<h3 class="title">Notes</h3>
<div class="caution"><strong class="caution">Caution</strong>
<p class="para">
If you want your script to work regardless of <a href="ini.core.html#ini.register-globals" class="link">register_globals</a>, you need to
instead use the <var class="varname"><var class="varname"><a href="reserved.variables.session.html" class="classname">$_SESSION</a></var></var> array as
<var class="varname"><var class="varname"><a href="reserved.variables.session.html" class="classname">$_SESSION</a></var></var> entries are automatically registered. If
your script uses <span class="function"><strong>session_register()</strong></span>, it will not work
in environments where the PHP directive <a href="ini.core.html#ini.register-globals" class="link">register_globals</a> is disabled.
</p>
</div>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>: <strong>register_globals: important
note</strong><br /><p class="para">As of PHP 4.2.0, the default value for the PHP directive
<a href="ini.core.html#ini.register-globals" class="link">register_globals</a> is <em class="emphasis">
off</em>. The PHP community discourages developers from relying on this directive, and encourages the use
of other means, such as the <a href="language.variables.predefined.html" class="link">superglobals</a>.</p></p></blockquote>
<div class="caution"><strong class="caution">Caution</strong>
<p class="para">
This registers a <em class="emphasis">global</em> variable. If you want to
register a session variable from within a function, you need to make sure
to make it global using the <a href="language.variables.scope.html" class="link"><strong class="command">global</strong></a>
keyword or the <var class="varname"><var class="varname"><a href="reserved.variables.globals.html" class="classname">$GLOBALS[]</a></var></var> array, or use the special
session arrays as noted below.
</p>
</div>
<div class="caution"><strong class="caution">Caution</strong>
<p class="para">
If you are using <var class="varname"><var class="varname"><a href="reserved.variables.session.html" class="classname">$_SESSION</a></var></var>
(or <var class="varname"><var class="varname">$HTTP_SESSION_VARS</var></var>), do not use
<span class="function"><strong>session_register()</strong></span>,
<span class="function"><a href="function.session-is-registered.html" class="function">session_is_registered()</a></span>, and
<span class="function"><a href="function.session-unregister.html" class="function">session_unregister()</a></span>.
</p>
</div>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
It is currently impossible to register resource variables in a session.
For example, you cannot create a connection to a database and store the
connection id as a session variable and expect the connection to still be
valid the next time the session is restored. PHP functions that return a
resource are identified by having a return type of
<em>resource</em> in their function definition. A list of
functions that return resources are available in the <a href="resource.html" class="link">resource types</a> appendix.
</p>
<p class="para">
If <var class="varname"><var class="varname"><a href="reserved.variables.session.html" class="classname">$_SESSION</a></var></var> (or <var class="varname"><var class="varname">$HTTP_SESSION_VARS</var></var>
for PHP 4.0.6 or less) is used, assign values to
<var class="varname"><var class="varname"><a href="reserved.variables.session.html" class="classname">$_SESSION</a></var></var>. For example: $_SESSION['var'] = 'ABC';
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.session-register-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.session-is-registered.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">session_is_registered()</a> - Find out whether a global variable is registered in a session</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.session-unregister.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">session_unregister()</a> - Unregister a global variable from the current session</span></li>
<li class="member"><var class="varname"><var class="varname"><a href="reserved.variables.session.html" class="classname">$_SESSION</a></var></var></li>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
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