What is the /tmp/sess_xxxxxxx file?

[edh]

Hello,

What is the /tmp/sess_xxxxxxx file created on the server when the session_start() function is used?

Is this file creation required for cookie session id usage?

Ed

[suntra]

The file contains all the session variables. Don't delete these files !!!

[edh]

Do the hosting providers ever delete these session files?

Also, is it good to put username and password information into these files?

Ed

[MtPHP]

Any good hosting company, such as sonichost.net and cyberpixels.com, won't delete it, but some bitchy hosts do, such as phphosting.com. If a hard disk is corrupt though, the file may get deleted. Yes it is perfectly safe to store usernames and passwords in these files as they can't be accessed over the itnernet except by PHP which won't treat them inproperly! One thing though, I ALWAYS recomend storing passwords as MD5. So rather than stoing
$password
make a new variable
$encryptedpassword = md5($password);