How to Completely End a PHP Session and Secure User Data?

How to Completely End a Session, Even with an Open Browser

When a user logs out of a website but leaves their browser open, it's crucial to ensure their session is entirely terminated. However, conventional methods using session_start(), unset($_SESSION), session_unset() and session_destroy() may not be sufficient for this task.

According to PHP documentation, to thoroughly end a session, the session ID must also be deleted. If cookies are used to transmit the session ID, they need to be erased. setcookie() can be employed to achieve this.

Below is a comprehensive example borrowed from the PHP manual:

<code class="php"><?php
// Initialize the session.
// If you use session_name("something"), recall it here!
session_start();

// Remove all session variables.
$_SESSION = array();

// Delete the session cookie if necessary to terminate the session.
// Warning: This action destroys the session, not just its data!
if (ini_get("session.use_cookies")) {
    $params = session_get_cookie_params();
    setcookie(session_name(), '', time() - 42000,
        $params["path"], $params["domain"],
        $params["secure"], $params["httponly"]
    );
}

// Finally, destroy the session.
session_destroy();
?></code>

By following this updated approach, you can effectively eliminate all traces of a session, ensuring the user's sensitive information is protected even if they keep their browser open.

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