<html> <body> <form action="index.php" method="post"> <input type="hidden" name="submitted" value="yes" /> Your Name: <input type="text" name="yourname" maxlength="150" /><br /> <input type="submit" value="Submit" style="margin-top: 10px;" /></form> </body> </html> <?php session_start (); if (! isset ( $_SESSION ['processing'] )) { $_SESSION ['processing'] = false; } if ($_SESSION ['processing'] == false) { $_SESSION ['processing'] = true; //validation if ($file = fopen ( "test.txt", "w+" )) { fwrite ( $file, "Processing" ); } else { echo "Error opening file."; } echo $_POST ['yourname']; unset ( $_SESSION ['processing'] ); } ?>