Check if PHP session has already started

Question

I have a PHP file that is sometimes called from a page that has started a session and sometimes from a page that doesn't have session started. Therefore when I have session_start() on this script I sometimes get the error message for "session already started". For that I've put these lines:

if(!isset($_COOKIE["PHPSESSID"]))
{
  session_start();
}

but this time I got this warning message:

Notice: Undefined variable: _SESSION

Is there a better way to check if session has already started?

If I use @session_start will it make things work properly and just shut up the warnings?

Answer 1

Response BASED on @Meliza Ramos Response(see first response) and http://php.net/manual/en/function.phpversion.php ,

ACTIONS:

• define PHP_VERSION_ID if not exist
• define function to check version based on PHP_VERSION_ID
• define function to openSession() secure

only use openSession()

    // PHP_VERSION_ID is available as of PHP 5.2.7, if our
    // version is lower than that, then emulate it
    if (!defined('PHP_VERSION_ID')) {
        $version = explode('.', PHP_VERSION);

        define('PHP_VERSION_ID', ($version[0] * 10000 + $version[1] * 100 + $version[2]));


        // PHP_VERSION_ID is defined as a number, where the higher the number
        // is, the newer a PHP version is used. It's defined as used in the above
        // expression:
        //
        // $version_id = $major_version * 10000 + $minor_version * 100 + $release_version;
        //
        // Now with PHP_VERSION_ID we can check for features this PHP version
        // may have, this doesn't require to use version_compare() everytime
        // you check if the current PHP version may not support a feature.
        //
        // For example, we may here define the PHP_VERSION_* constants thats
        // not available in versions prior to 5.2.7

        if (PHP_VERSION_ID < 50207) {
            define('PHP_MAJOR_VERSION',   $version[0]);
            define('PHP_MINOR_VERSION',   $version[1]);
            define('PHP_RELEASE_VERSION', $version[2]);

            // and so on, ...
        }
    }

    function phpVersionAtLeast($strVersion = '0.0.0')
    {
        $version = explode('.', $strVersion);

        $questionVer = $version[0] * 10000 + $version[1] * 100 + $version[2];

        if(PHP_VERSION_ID >= $questionVer)
            return true;
        else
            return false;

    }

    function openSession()
    {
        if(phpVersionAtLeast('5.4.0'))
        {
            if(session_status()==PHP_SESSION_NONE)
                session_start();
        }
        else // under 5.4.0
        {
            if(session_id() == '')
                session_start();
        }
    }

Answer 2

Recommended way for versions of PHP >= 5.4.0 , PHP 7

if (session_status() == PHP_SESSION_NONE) {
    session_start();
}

Reference: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.session-status.php

For versions of PHP < 5.4.0

if(session_id() == '') {
    session_start();
}

Answer 3

Prior to PHP 5.4 there is no reliable way of knowing other than setting a global flag.

Consider:

var_dump($_SESSION); // null
session_start();
var_dump($_SESSION); // array
session_destroy();
var_dump($_SESSION); // array, but session isn't active.

Or:

session_id(); // returns empty string
session_start();
session_id(); // returns session hash
session_destroy();
session_id(); // returns empty string, ok, but then
session_id('foo'); // tell php the session id to use
session_id(); // returns 'foo', but no session is active.

So, prior to PHP 5.4 you should set a global boolean.

Answer 4

For versions of PHP prior to PHP 5.4.0:

if(session_id() == '') {
    // session isn't started
}

Though, IMHO, you should really think about refactoring your session management code if you don't know whether or not a session is started...

That said, my opinion is subjective, and there are situations (examples of which are described in the comments below) where it may not be possible to know if the session is started.

Answer 5

if (session_id() === "") { session_start(); }

hope it helps !

Answer 6

if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, "5.4.0") >= 0) {
    $sess = session_status();
    if ($sess == PHP_SESSION_NONE) {
        session_start();
    }
} else {
    if (!$_SESSION) {
        session_start();
    }
}

Actually, it is now too late to explain it here anyway as its been solved. This was a .inc file of one of my projects where you configure a menu for a restaurant by selecting a dish and remove/add or change the order. The server I was working at did not had the actual version so I made it more flexible. It's up to the authors wish to use and try it out.