How to loop through session array in php

Question

I'm trying to loop through the session. But I can't seem to get the expected results. I'm still trying to explore things. So please teach me a better way to do this. If you find my code unsecure or inappropriate. First I have this login form:

<form name="x" action="login.php" method="post">

Username:<input type="text" name="uname" value=""></input><br/>
Password:<input type="password" name="pword" value=""></input>
<input type="submit" value="login"></input>
</form>

And here's login.php which sets the session if the record is found on the mysql database:

<?php
require_once("conn.php");

$username=$_POST['uname'];
$pword=md5($_POST['pword']);

echo $username."<br/>";
echo $pword;

$check=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE Uname='$username' AND Hpword='$pword'");

if(mysql_num_rows($check)==0){
    header('Location:loginform.php');
}else{

    session_start();

    while($result=mysql_fetch_assoc($check)){
        $_SESSION['uid'].=$result['ID'];
        $_SESSION['uname'].=$result['Uname'];


    }

}
?>

And here's the file which loops through the session:

<?php

session_start();
echo "Logged in users:<br/>";


foreach($_SESSION as $sir){


}

echo "User id: ". $_SESSION['uid']."<br/>";
echo "Username: ".$_SESSION['uname']."<br/>";

?>

I get this:

enter image description here

While I'm expecting to get something like this:

User id: 1 Username: yoh

User id: 2 Username: max

Try to avoid SQL injection or problems: use mysql_real_escape_string() when inserting POST data into a query — Maxime Pacary
– Maxime Pacary, Commented Mar 23, 2011 at 10:38
@Frosty only string data from any source it should be. — Your Common Sense
– Your Common Sense, Commented Mar 23, 2011 at 10:41
Obviously, however thanks for pointing this out for any beginner reading this. — Maxime Pacary
– Maxime Pacary, Commented Mar 23, 2011 at 10:46

fabrik · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-23 10:27:36Z

6

$_SESSION is available only for the visitor who opens the page actually. (It would be nice to see everyone's $_SESSION variables, isn't it?)

You may want to store these $_SESSION vars in your db then loop through them.

Update:

create a sessions table where you can store your currently logged in users
every time when a logged in user opens a page, increment a value (timestamp) like last_seen
at the same time check dead sessions (e.g. delete all rows where last_seen value is smaller than now - server's session lifetime

edited Mar 23, 2011 at 10:27

answered Mar 23, 2011 at 10:22

fabrik

14.4k8 gold badges58 silver badges71 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Wern Ancheta Over a year ago

like make a table for current users? or make switches on user table?(1 if logged in, 0 if not). Is that what you want me to do?

fabrik Over a year ago

just updated my answer with an outline on how to do this easily.

Your Common Sense · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-23 10:51:53Z

3

Aside from extremely correct fabrik's answer, just a few lines on your code:

foreach($_SESSION as $sir){

}

this loop obviously does nothing. you can't get any output from the code that outputs nothing :)

Also, if you want to store multiple values into session, like in shopping cart, you have to store in in array, not long concatenated string:

    $_SESSION['cart'][] =$result;

will produce an array called $_SESSION['cart'] which can be iterated the way you desired:

foreach ($_SESSION['cart'] as $result){
  echo "Item id: ".$result['id'].", name: ".$result['name']."<br>\n";
}

answered Mar 23, 2011 at 10:51

Your Common Sense

158k42 gold badges226 silver badges373 bronze badges

Comments

Peter Lang · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-19 13:18:45Z

3

session_start();
foreach ($_SESSION as $name => $value)
{
    echo $name."=".$value."<br>";
}

edited Jun 19, 2012 at 13:18

Peter Lang

55.7k29 gold badges153 silver badges165 bronze badges

answered Jun 19, 2012 at 13:10

Pere

311 bronze badge

1 Comment

Sven Over a year ago

The question suggests the output of every users session should be done. The correct anwer is that it cannot be done iterating over $_SESSION.

Yoann · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-23 12:11:41Z

0

UPDATE : non numerical index.

In login.php

while($result=mysql_fetch_assoc($check)){
     $_SESSION[$result['Uname'].$result['ID']] = array(
         "uid"=>$result['ID'], 
         "uname"=>$result['Uname']
     );
}

And in you foreach

foreach($_SESSION as $uinfos){
    echo "User id: ".$uinfos["uid"]."<br/>Username: ".$uinfos["uname"]."<br/>";
}

Like this you have only one entry for each user.

edited Mar 23, 2011 at 12:11

answered Mar 23, 2011 at 10:36

Yoann

5,0971 gold badge31 silver badges47 bronze badges

3 Comments

Your Common Sense Over a year ago

$_SESSION array doesn't support numeric indices

Your Common Sense Over a year ago

it's still won't work, as PHP variable name cannot be started from number.

Your Common Sense Over a year ago

also, it's just a bad practice to iterate over $_SESSION itself. there can be (and most likely would be) other items, like shopping cart, user preferences etc

sharpner · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-23 10:31:59Z

-1

why don't you store it like

$_SESSION[$uid] = $name; or $_SESSION[] = array('uid' => $uid, 'name' => $name);

then you can simply iterate through all entries..

foreach($_SESSION as $uid=> $name){
   ....
}

or

foreach($_SESSION as $userArray){
    $uid = $userArray['uid']; 
    $name = $userArray['name']; 
}

answered Mar 23, 2011 at 10:31

sharpner

3,9773 gold badges21 silver badges28 bronze badges

2 Comments

Maxime Pacary Over a year ago

I think that if someone connects from another client (browser, machine...), this won't work...

Your Common Sense Over a year ago

$_SESSION array doesn't support numeric indices

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to loop through session array in php

5 Answers 5

2 Comments

Comments

1 Comment

3 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

5 Answers 5

2 Comments

Comments

1 Comment

3 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related