session_start() error

idatex

I'm getting the following error when I use the session_start(); command:

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started at /home/xxxxx/public_html/checkout/TestPhp1.php:2) in /home/xxxxx/public_html/checkout/TestPhp1.php on line 3

I've stripped down the code in the page to only include:

When I look at View source, it appears that there is a tag being inserted by PHP before session_start(). Here's how the source looks:

<html>
 
Warning: session_start() [<a href='function.session-start'>function.session-start</a>]: Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started at /home/mindylu/public_html/checkout/TestPhp1.php:2) in /home/mindylu/public_html/checkout/TestPhp1.php on line 3

I can't figure out where the tag is coming from - any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

NogDog

There can be no output -- including any text or even white-space characters outside of <?php...?> tags -- before the call to session_start(). (The is just part of the PHP error message.)

idatex

Thanks for the response!

So in my simple code in the page, what is being output before the session_start()? Is the <html> tag considered output?

NogDog

idatex;10993806 wrote:
Thanks for the response!

So in my simple code in the page, what is being output before the session_start()? Is the <html> tag considered output?

Yep, just move the session_start() before it, even if you want the rest of the PHP code after it.

Weedpacket

Incidentally, [man]session_register[/man] is deprecated. (Read the function's description for how to replace it).

idatex

Thanks a bunch - that seemed to take care of the error.

After looking at a lot of examples, it wasn't obvious that the session_start() code was supposed to go at the very top of the page. Thanks again for clarifying that for me!

Weedpacket

It's not so much "the very top of the page", but "before any output".