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Runtime Configuration
The behaviour of these functions is affected by settings in php.ini.
For further details and definitions of the
PHP_INI_* modes, see the Where a configuration setting may be set.
The session management system supports a number of configuration
options which you can place in your php.ini file. We will give a
short overview.
-
session.save_handler
string
-
session.save_handler defines the name of the
handler which is used for storing and retrieving data
associated with a session. Defaults to
files. Note that individual extensions may register
their own save_handlers; registered handlers can be
obtained on a per-installation basis by referring to
phpinfo. See also
session_set_save_handler.
-
session.save_path
string
-
session.save_path defines the argument which
is passed to the save handler. If you choose the default files
handler, this is the path where the files are created. See also
session_save_path.
There is an optional N argument to this directive that determines
the number of directory levels your session files will be spread
around in. For example, setting to '5;/tmp'
may end up creating a session file and location like
/tmp/4/b/1/e/3/sess_4b1e384ad74619bd212e236e52a5a174If
. In order to use N you must create all of these
directories before use. A small shell script exists in
ext/session to do this, it's called
mod_files.sh, with a Windows version called
mod_files.bat. Also note that if N is
used and greater than 0 then automatic garbage collection will
not be performed, see a copy of php.ini for further
information. Also, if you use N, be sure to surround
session.save_path in
"quotes" because the separator (;) is
also used for comments in php.ini.
The file storage module creates files using mode 600 by default.
This default can be changed with the optional MODE argument:
N;MODE;/path where MODE is the octal
representation of the mode.
Setting MODE does not affect the process umask.
Warning
If you leave this set to a world-readable directory, such as
/tmp (the default), other users on the
server may be able to hijack sessions by getting the list of
files in that directory.
Note:
Prior to PHP 4.3.6, Windows users had to change this variable in order
to use PHP's session functions. A valid path must be specified, e.g.:
c:/temp.
-
session.name
string
-
session.name specifies the name of the
session which is used as cookie name. It should only contain
alphanumeric characters. Defaults to PHPSESSID.
See also session_name.
-
session.auto_start
boolean
-
session.auto_start specifies whether the
session module starts a session automatically on request
startup. Defaults to 0 (disabled).
-
session.serialize_handler
string
-
session.serialize_handler defines the name of
the handler which is used to serialize/deserialize data. PHP
serialize format (name php_serialize, PHP
internal formats (name php and
php_binary) and WDDX are supported (name
wddx). WDDX is only available, if PHP is
compiled with WDDX
support. php_serialize is available
from PHP 5.5.4. php_serialize uses plain
serialize/unserialize function internally and does not have
limitations that php
and php_binary have. Older serialize handlers
cannot store numeric index nor string index contains special
characters (| and !) in
$_SESSION. Use php_serialize to avoid numeric
index or special character errors at script shutdown. Defaults
to php.
-
session.gc_probability
integer
-
session.gc_probability in conjunction with
session.gc_divisor is used to manage probability
that the gc (garbage collection) routine is started.
Defaults to 1. See session.gc_divisor for details.
-
session.gc_divisor
integer
-
session.gc_divisor coupled with
session.gc_probability defines the probability
that the gc (garbage collection) process is started on every session
initialization.
The probability is calculated by using gc_probability/gc_divisor,
e.g. 1/100 means there is a 1% chance that the GC process starts
on each request.
session.gc_divisor defaults to 100.
-
session.gc_maxlifetime
integer
-
session.gc_maxlifetime specifies the number
of seconds after which data will be seen as 'garbage' and
potentially cleaned up. Garbage collection may occur during session start
(depending on session.gc_probability and
session.gc_divisor).
Note:
If different scripts have different values of
session.gc_maxlifetime but share the same place for
storing the session data then the script with the minimum value will be
cleaning the data. In this case, use this directive together with session.save_path.
Note:
If you are using the default file-based session handler, your
filesystem must keep track of access times (atime). Windows FAT does
not so you will have to come up with another way to handle garbage
collecting your session if you are stuck with a FAT filesystem or any
other filesystem where atime tracking is not available.
Since PHP 4.2.3 it has used mtime (modified date) instead of atime. So, you
won't have problems with filesystems where atime tracking is not available.
-
session.referer_check
string
-
session.referer_check contains the
substring you want to check each HTTP Referer for. If the
Referer was sent by the client and the substring was not
found, the embedded session id will be marked as invalid.
Defaults to the empty string.
-
session.entropy_file
string
-
session.entropy_file gives a path to an
external resource (file) which will be used as an additional
entropy source in the session id creation process. Examples are
/dev/random or /dev/urandom
which are available on many Unix systems.
This feature is supported on Windows since PHP 5.3.3. Setting
session.entropy_length to a non zero value
will make PHP use the Windows Random API as entropy source.
Note:
As of PHP 5.4.0 session.entropy_file defaults
to /dev/urandom or /dev/arandom
if it is available. In PHP 5.3.0 this directive is left empty by default.
-
session.entropy_length
integer
-
session.entropy_length specifies the number
of bytes which will be read from the file specified
above. Defaults to 0 (disabled).
-
session.use_strict_mode
boolean
-
session.use_strict_mode specifies whether the
module will use strict session id mode. If this mode is enabled,
the module does not accept uninitialized session ID. If uninitialized
session ID is sent from browser, new session ID is sent to browser.
Applications are protected from session fixation via session adoption
with strict mode.
Defaults to 0 (disabled).
-
session.use_cookies
boolean
-
session.use_cookies specifies whether the
module will use cookies to store the session id on the client
side. Defaults to 1 (enabled).
-
session.use_only_cookies
boolean
-
session.use_only_cookies specifies whether
the module will only use
cookies to store the session id on the client side.
Enabling this setting prevents attacks involved passing session
ids in URLs. This setting was added in PHP 4.3.0.
Defaults to 1 (enabled) since PHP 5.3.0.
-
session.cookie_lifetime
integer
-
session.cookie_lifetime specifies the lifetime of
the cookie in seconds which is sent to the browser. The value 0
means "until the browser is closed." Defaults to
0. See also
session_get_cookie_params and
session_set_cookie_params.
Note:
The expiration timestamp is set relative to the server time, which is
not necessarily the same as the time in the client's browser.
-
session.cookie_path
string
-
session.cookie_path specifies path to set
in the session cookie. Defaults to /. See also
session_get_cookie_params and
session_set_cookie_params.
-
session.cookie_domain
string
-
session.cookie_domain specifies the domain to
set in the session cookie. Default is none at all meaning the host name of
the server which generated the cookie according to cookies specification.
See also session_get_cookie_params and
session_set_cookie_params.
-
session.cookie_secure
boolean
-
session.cookie_secure specifies whether
cookies should only be sent over secure connections. Defaults to
off.
This setting was added in PHP 4.0.4. See also
session_get_cookie_params and
session_set_cookie_params.
-
session.cookie_httponly
boolean
-
Marks the cookie as accessible only through the HTTP protocol. This means
that the cookie won't be accessible by scripting languages, such as
JavaScript. This setting can effectively help to reduce identity theft
through XSS attacks (although it is not supported by all browsers).
-
session.cache_limiter
string
-
session.cache_limiter specifies the cache
control method used for session pages.
It may be one of the following values:
nocache, private,
private_no_expire, or public.
Defaults to nocache. See also the
session_cache_limiter documentation for
information about what these values mean.
-
session.cache_expire
integer
-
session.cache_expire specifies time-to-live
for cached session pages in minutes, this has no effect for
nocache limiter. Defaults to 180. See also
session_cache_expire.
-
session.use_trans_sid
boolean
-
session.use_trans_sid whether transparent
sid support is enabled or not. Defaults to
0 (disabled).
Note:
For PHP 4.1.2 or less, it is enabled by compiling with
--enable-trans-sid.
From PHP 4.2.0, trans-sid feature is always compiled.
URL based session management has additional security risks
compared to cookie based session management. Users may send
a URL that contains an active session ID to their friends by
email or users may save a URL that contains a session ID to
their bookmarks and access your site with the same session ID
always, for example.
-
session.bug_compat_42
boolean
-
PHP versions 4.2.3 and lower have an undocumented feature/bug that
allows you to initialize a session variable in the global scope,
albeit register_globals
is disabled. PHP 4.3.0 and later will warn you, if this feature is
used, and if
session.bug_compat_warn is also enabled. This feature/bug can be
disabled by disabling this directive.
-
session.bug_compat_warn
boolean
-
PHP versions 4.2.3 and lower have an undocumented feature/bug that
allows you to initialize a session variable in the global scope,
albeit register_globals
is disabled. PHP 4.3.0 and later will warn you, if this feature is
used by enabling both
session.bug_compat_42
and
session.bug_compat_warn.
-
session.hash_function
mixed
-
session.hash_function allows you to specify the hash
algorithm used to generate the session IDs. '0' means MD5 (128 bits) and
'1' means SHA-1 (160 bits).
Since PHP 5.3.0 it is also possible to specify any of the algorithms
provided by the hash extension (if it is
available), like sha512 or
whirlpool. A complete list of supported algorithms can
be obtained with the hash_algos function.
Note:
This setting was introduced in PHP 5.
-
session.hash_bits_per_character
integer
-
session.hash_bits_per_character allows you to define
how many bits are stored in each character when converting the binary
hash data to something readable. The possible values are '4' (0-9, a-f),
'5' (0-9, a-v), and '6' (0-9, a-z, A-Z, "-", ",").
Note:
This was introduced in PHP 5.
-
url_rewriter.tags
string
-
url_rewriter.tags specifies which HTML tags
are rewritten to include session id if transparent sid support
is enabled. Defaults to
a=href,area=href,frame=src,input=src,form=fakeentry,fieldset=
Note:
If you want HTML/XHTML strict conformity, remove the form entry and
use the <fieldset> tags around your form fields.
-
session.upload_progress.enabled
boolean
-
Enables upload progress tracking, populating the $_SESSION variable.
Defaults to 1, enabled.
-
session.upload_progress.cleanup
boolean
-
Cleanup the progress information as soon as all POST data has been read
(i.e. upload completed). Defaults to 1, enabled.
Note:
It is highly recommended to keep this feature enabled.
-
session.upload_progress.prefix
string
-
A prefix used for the upload progress key in the $_SESSION.
This key will be concatenated with the value of
$_POST[ini_get("session.upload_progress.name")] to
provide a unique index.
Defaults to "upload_progress_".
-
session.upload_progress.name
string
-
The name of the key to be used in $_SESSION storing
the progress information. See also
session.upload_progress.prefix.
If $_POST[ini_get("session.upload_progress.name")]
is not passed or available, upload progressing will not be recorded.
Defaults to "PHP_SESSION_UPLOAD_PROGRESS".
-
session.upload_progress.freq
mixed
-
Defines how often the upload progress information should be updated.
This can be defined in bytes (i.e. "update progress information after every 100 bytes"), or in percentages (i.e. "update progress information after receiving every 1% of the whole filesize").
Defaults to "1%".
-
session.upload_progress.min_freq
integer
-
The minimum delay between updates, in seconds.
Defaults to "1" (one second).
The track_vars and
register_globals
configuration settings influence how the session variables get
stored and restored.
Upload progress will not be registered unless
session.upload_progress.enabled is enabled, and the
$_POST[ini_get("session.upload_progress.name")] variable is set.
See Session Upload Progress for mor details on this functionality.
Note:
As of PHP 4.0.3, track_vars is
always turned on.
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