How Can I Control Session Timeout in My PHP Application?

PHP Session Management: Controlling Session Timeout

In PHP, sessions allow you to store information about a user's interaction with a website. To control the duration of a session, you can specify a timeout. Here's how you can set a timeout and handle its expiration.

Setting a Session Timeout

When a user logs in, you create a session and assign a value to the id field. To specify a timeout, you need to set the session.gc_maxlifetime directive to a value in seconds. This directive determines how long a session can remain inactive before it times out. For example, to set a timeout of 10 minutes:

ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime', 600);

Handling Session Expiration

To determine if a session has expired, you can check the last time the user made a request. Store this timestamp in the session data, for example:

$_SESSION['last_activity'] = time();

In subsequent requests, you can calculate the elapsed time since the last activity and compare it against the timeout value:

$inactive_time = time() - $_SESSION['last_activity'];
if ($inactive_time > 600) {
    // Session has expired. Perform necessary actions (e.g., redirect, log out).
}

Refreshing Session Timeout

If the user remains active during the session, you can refresh the timeout by updating the last_activity timestamp. This ensures that the session does not expire prematurely due to inactivity.

By implementing these techniques, you can effectively control session timeouts and manage user interactions with your PHP application.

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