<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <title>Get and/or set the current session name</title> </head> <body><div class="manualnavbar" style="text-align: center;"> <div class="prev" style="text-align: left; float: left;"><a href="function.session-module-name.html">session_module_name</a></div> <div class="next" style="text-align: right; float: right;"><a href="function.session-regenerate-id.html">session_regenerate_id</a></div> <div class="up"><a href="ref.session.html">Session Functions</a></div> <div class="home"><a href="index.html">PHP Manual</a></div> </div><hr /><div id="function.session-name" class="refentry"> <div class="refnamediv"> <h1 class="refname">session_name</h1> <p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">session_name</span> — <span class="dc-title">Get and/or set the current session name</span></p> </div> <div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.session-name-description"> <h3 class="title">Description</h3> <div class="methodsynopsis dc-description"> <span class="type">string</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>session_name</strong></span> ([ <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">string</span> <code class="parameter">$name</code></span> ] )</div> <p class="para rdfs-comment"> <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> returns the name of the current session. If <code class="parameter">name</code> is given, <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> will update the session name and return the <em class="emphasis">old</em> session name. </p> <p class="para"> If a new session <code class="parameter">name</code> is supplied, <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> modifies the HTTP cookie (and output content when <em>session.transid</em> is enabled). Once the HTTP cookie is sent, <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> raises error. <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> must be called before <span class="function"><a href="function.session-start.html" class="function">session_start()</a></span> for the session to work properly. </p> <p class="para"> The session name is reset to the default value stored in <em>session.name</em> at request startup time. Thus, you need to call <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> for every request (and before <span class="function"><a href="function.session-start.html" class="function">session_start()</a></span> is called). </p> </div> <div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.session-name-parameters"> <h3 class="title">Parameters</h3> <p class="para"> <dl> <dt> <code class="parameter">name</code></dt> <dd> <p class="para"> The session name references the name of the session, which is used in cookies and URLs (e.g. <em>PHPSESSID</em>). It should contain only alphanumeric characters; it should be short and descriptive (i.e. for users with enabled cookie warnings). If <code class="parameter">name</code> is specified, the name of the current session is changed to its value. </p> <p class="para"> <div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong> <p class="para"> The session name can't consist of digits only, at least one letter must be present. Otherwise a new session id is generated every time. </p> </div> </p> </dd> </dl> </p> </div> <div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.session-name-returnvalues"> <h3 class="title">Return Values</h3> <p class="para"> Returns the name of the current session. If <code class="parameter">name</code> is given and function updates the session name, name of the <em class="emphasis">old</em> session is returned. </p> </div> <div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.session-name-examples"> <h3 class="title">Examples</h3> <p class="para"> <div class="example" id="example-5962"> <p><strong>Example #1 <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> example</strong></p> <div class="example-contents"> <div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000"> <span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">/* set the session name to WebsiteID */<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$previous_name </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">session_name</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"WebsiteID"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br />echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"The previous session name was </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$previous_name</span><span style="color: #DD0000"><br />"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span> </span> </code></div> </div> </div> </p> </div> <div class="refsect1 changelog" id="refsect1-function.session-name-changelog"> <h3 class="title">Changelog</h3> <p class="para"> <table class="doctable informaltable"> <thead> <tr> <th>Version</th> <th>Description</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody class="tbody"> <tr> <td>7.2.0</td> <td> <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> checks session status, previously it only checked cookie status. Therefore, older <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> allows to call <span class="function"><strong>session_name()</strong></span> after <span class="function"><a href="function.session-start.html" class="function">session_start()</a></span> which may crash PHP and may result in misbehaviors. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </p> </div> <div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.session-name-seealso"> <h3 class="title">See Also</h3> <p class="para"> <ul class="simplelist"> <li class="member"> The <a href="session.configuration.html#ini.session.name" class="link">session.name</a> configuration directive </li> </ul> </p> </div> </div><hr /><div class="manualnavbar" style="text-align: center;"> <div class="prev" style="text-align: left; float: left;"><a href="function.session-module-name.html">session_module_name</a></div> <div class="next" style="text-align: right; float: right;"><a href="function.session-regenerate-id.html">session_regenerate_id</a></div> <div class="up"><a href="ref.session.html">Session Functions</a></div> <div class="home"><a href="index.html">PHP Manual</a></div> </div></body></html>