View php session variables

Question

Not sure if this belongs here or at webapps... please move if appropriate.

I don't even know if such a thing is possible, but is there an extension or add-on for either Firefox or Chrome that would let me view all my PHP session variables the way there are extensions that let you view cookies?

score 59 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 21 '11 at 20:34

Cookies are available on the client-side, so they can be seen from the browser.

On the other hand, session data is stored on the server, and never sent to the client (except you write some code to do just that, of course).

To dump the content of a variable, like $_SESSION, you can use the var_dump() function.
On a development server, you can install the Xdebug extension to enhance its output greatly (and lots of other debugging-related things, btw).

If you don't want to pollute the HTML of your page, you could install the FirePHP extension to FireBug, and use the corresponding PHP library to send data (like dump of variables) to it.
This would allow your variables, like $_SESSION, to be displayed in firebug's console.

I accepted this a while ago but never commented. The FirePHP extension was what I was looking for, thanks. — EmmyS, Aug 11 '11 at 16:12
That means the user or hackers has no way to see what is the variable pattern we used in our application. Am I right? — Salitha Prasad, Oct 10 '16 at 11:50

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 21 '11 at 20:33

6

PHP session variables are stored on the server and are inaccessible to the client.

answered Mar 21 '11 at 20:33

Nick

2,928
2
18
25

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 21 '11 at 20:35

No. Session data is server-side, while cookies are client-side. The session cookie contains the session identifier, which the server (i.e.: PHP) uses to retrieve the proper session data.

It is not possible to view session data without remote access to the server, or using a script (that resides on the server).

This is why it is recommended to store "sensitive" information in session instead of cookies, because it cannot be consulted/altered easily.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 21 '11 at 20:34

No. Session variables are stored on the server. The only thing that would be visible in Firefox is the ID of the session, stored in the session cookie (e.g. PHP_SESS_ID=randomgarbage).

You'd have to explicitly write a script that would dump out the session variables, something as simple as:

dumpsession.php:

<pre>
<?php
    var_dump($_SESSION);

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 15 '13 at 14:14

0

You can use: Print_r ($_SESSION);

answered Jan 15 '13 at 14:14

Mihai Nedelcovici

81
1
1

1

Please expand your answer. – Lee Taylor Jan 15 '13 at 14:32
If you don``t want to use extensions, you can use in php file Print_r ($_SESSION); Thought it may help, Have a nice one – Mihai Nedelcovici Jan 22 '13 at 15:38

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 18 '15 at 11:13

I had this simple script that shows the $_SESSION variables.

   <?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
session_start();
if (isset($_POST['session'])) {
    $session = eval("return {$_POST['session']};");
    if (is_array($session)) {
        $_SESSION = $session;
        header("Location: {$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}?saved");
    }
    else {
        header("Location: {$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}?error");
    }
}

$session = htmlentities(var_export($_SESSION, true));
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-US">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <title>Session Variable Management</title>
        <style>
            textarea { font: 12px Consolas, Monaco, monospace; padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #444444; width: 99%; }
            .saved, .error { border: 1px solid #509151; background: #DDF0DD; padding: 2px; }
            .error { border-color: #915050; background: #F0DDDD; }
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1>Session Variable Management</h1>
<?php if (isset($_GET['saved'])) { ?>
        <p class="saved">The session was saved successfully.</p>
<?php } else if (isset($_GET['error'])) { ?>
        <p class="error">The session variable did not parse correctly.</p>
<?php } ?>
        <form method="post">
            <textarea name="session" rows="<?php echo count(preg_split("/\n|\r/", $session)); ?>"><?php echo $session; ?></textarea>
            <input type="submit" value="Update Session">
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

Install it on a test server, name it "sess.php" or something like that, and it shows the current session. DO NOT LEAVE IT ON A PRODUCTION SERVER !!!

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 21 '11 at 20:32

0

To acces something fro ma session you could use var_dump, I dont the browser due security restrictions. http://php.net/manual/en/function.var-dump.php

answered Mar 21 '11 at 20:32

Cninroh

1,674
2
19
32

View php session variables

7 Answers7

Linked