PHP How can I create multiple sessions?

Question

I want to be able to switch back and forth between sessions in php. Here is my current code:

<?php

session_name("session1");
session_start();
$_SESSION["name"] = "1";
echo "<pre>", print_r($_SESSION, 1), "</pre>";
session_write_close();

session_name("session2");
session_start();
$_SESSION["name"] = "2";
echo "<pre>", print_r($_SESSION, 1), "</pre>";
session_write_close();

session_name("session1");
session_start();
echo "<pre>", print_r($_SESSION, 1), "</pre>";

I want it to output

Array
(
    [name] => 1
)
Array
(
    [name] => 2
)
Array
(
    [name] => 1
)

but it is outputting

Array
(
    [name] => 1
)
Array
(
    [name] => 2
)
Array
(
    [name] => 2
)

Is it possible to switch between sessions like that? I don't need two sessions running at the same time, but I do need to be able to switch between them. When I run this code, I get two cookies: session1 and session2 with the same value.

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

What you need to use is session_id() instead of session_name()

<?php

session_id("session1");
session_start();
echo session_id();
$_SESSION["name"] = "1";
echo "<pre>", print_r($_SESSION, 1), "</pre>";
session_write_close();

session_id("session2");
echo session_id();
session_start();
$_SESSION["name"] = "2";
echo "<pre>", print_r($_SESSION, 1), "</pre>";
session_write_close();

session_id("session1");
echo session_id();
session_start();
echo "<pre>", print_r($_SESSION, 1), "</pre>";
session_write_close();

session_id("session2");
echo session_id();
session_start();
echo "<pre>", print_r($_SESSION, 1), "</pre>";

This will print:

session1

Array
(
    [name] => 1
)

session2

Array
(
    [name] => 2
)

session1

Array
(
    [name] => 1
)

session2

Array
(
    [name] => 2
)

session_id is an identifier for a session, which helps in distinguishing sessions. session_name is only a named alias for the current session