PHP Session default timeout

[chelnov63]

Hi what is the default Session Timeout for php...is there a way to increase this on the web server I am hostign my php scripts on..

 

Cheers

 

[MadTechie]

if you have access to the php.ini file then yes

session.gc_maxlifetime = 3600

 

you can try

 

<?php
ini_set ( string "session.gc_maxlifetime", 3600)

?>

 

 

EDIT:

 

as a note it maybe an idea to set the session everyt time its check thus resetting the timeout

[chelnov63]

thanks for that..i dont have access to the ini file...

 

can i just do

 

<?php

ini_set ( string "session.gc_maxlifetime", 3600)

 

?>

 

to set it then, even if i dont have acess to the ini file?

[MadTechie]

you can try.. it "Should" work but i have has limited success with it..

 

not many options i can think of.. if anyone has idea's i would like to hear them as well

[jitesh]

The default session time out is 1440 secs (24 mnts)

 

You can not change it from ini_set().

 

You need to dunamic open php.ini and need to set session.cookie_lifetime = 'Number of secs you want to set for session timeout'.

 

and restart web server.

[chelnov63]

thanks for the input guys... another question along the same lines:

 

<?php

session_start();

$_SESSION['size']='large';

session_destroy();

echo "Session Size: ".$_SESSION['size']; //this echoes out Session Size: large

?>

 

why does the above still echo out the value in $_SESSION['size'], after i have used session_destroy() ?

 

Cheers

 

 

[MadTechie]

try

 

<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION['size']='large';
unset($_SESSION);
session_destroy();
session_start();
echo "Session Size: ".$_SESSION['size']; //this echoes out Session Size: large
?>

 

If you are creating a new session, but want to make sure that  there are currently no sessions active by doing session_destroy(); make sure you start the session again using session_start(); or else your session data will not register properly.

[chelnov63]

thanks for that it works great... but do i really need unset($_SESSION);?

 

it seems to work simply with session_destroy()

[jitesh]

<?php

session_start();

$_SESSION['size']='large';

unset($_SESSION);

session_unset();

session_destroy();

echo "Session Size: ".$_SESSION['size']; //this echoes out Session Size: large

?>

[chelnov63]

thanks...the following seems to work fine

 

<?php

session_start();

$_SESSION['loggedin'] = "true";

echo "Session Size: ".$_SESSION['loggedin']; //this echoes out Session Size: large

session_unset();

session_destroy();

if(!isset($_SESSION['loggedin'])) echo "not set"; //this echoes out Session Size: large

?>

 

what is unset($_SESSION); meant for? it works correctly without it...

[trq]

Um... the syntax for ini_set would be...

 

<?php
ini_set ("session.gc_maxlifetime", "3600")
?>

 

Not...

 

<?php
ini_set ( string "session.gc_maxlifetime", 3600)
?>

[jitesh]

unset($_SESSION); is approx same as session_unset();

[MadTechie]

Owww got to try that..

if that works i owe you one Thorpe

[chelnov63]

cheers guys..  Thorpe will that always work reliably..do i only need to put that code in once? or each time before settign a session? thanks

[trq]

Yes it will work reliably, but you will have to place it before any call to session_start().