How to keep track of users??

[sarika]

Problem in keeping track of users...
I have a login script with user name and password....I want to do it using cookies...I have set the cookies for the same..But getting problem while reading a cookie...What data should I store in the cookie so that User can be verified??Whether session Id or User name....
I'd be glad if anyone could help me out..
Thanx.

[lnfreish]

you can use session.

session_start();
$_SESSION['name'] = $_POST['name'];
$_SESSION['passwd']  = $_POST['passwd'];

if (($_SESSION['name'] == $username) && $_SESSION['passwd']==md5($userpasswd)) {
      //valid user
} else {
     //invalid username or password
}

[sarika]

Thanx for the reply..
Using sessions is ok but is it not possible to do the same using cookies...