Why Session object destruction failed

Question

I get "Session object destruction failed" when I use session_destroy().

session_start(); if(isset($_SESSION['user_id'])){ $_SESSION=array(); if(isset($_COOKIE[session_name()])){ setcookie(session_name(),'',0,"/"); } session_destroy(); }

What causes this error?

perhaps because of $_SESSION=array(); or calling session_name() before session_start()? not sure which one is right... — LeleDumbo
– LeleDumbo, Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 4:19
Only the first two lines make sense, the rest of the code is baffling. I don't think you understand how $_SESSION works. Just call session_start() and use it. — rook
– rook, Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 4:21
Are you using a custom session handler by any chance? Guessing no or you would have mentioned it in the question, but worth a shot. — Corbin
– Corbin, Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 4:56

hakre · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-18 05:06:44Z

Error:

Warning: session_destroy(): Session object destruction failed

It's rather trivial, no session ~~has been started~~ object has been comitted, so you can't destroy it.

The @ operator is not always active, e.g. with error reporting functions.

Edit:

1) What causes this error?

This error is normally caused when PHP tries to delete the session file, but it can't find it.

In your case with session_destroy there is only one place in PHP which causes this. That's when the session.save_handler (see as well session_set_save_handler) returns FALSE for the destroy action. This can depends which type of save-handler you use, the default one is files. With that one, when the session.save_path setting is wrong (e.g. not an accessible directory), this would cause such an error.

2) Why would the "@" not be suppressing the error?

That depends how the output is created and on PHP configuration. @ does not always work. For example callbacks registered with set_error_handler will still receive these messages.

There is, at least technically, a session_start() right at the top of the quoted code.
So the answer is to session_write_close() before session_destroy()...?
No, technically not because you can't destroy a session that is not active. See session_destroy. The general problem with the question is, that the @ has been added for some reason and that reason needs to be known to tell what is going on here. Session state can be tricky in edge-cases.
"What is STDOUT?" - STDOUT is Standard Output, in PHP that is what the browser displays. Are you seeing the error message in your browser or inside some log files?

Adam Bubela · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-27 09:18:56Z

In my case I was trying to destroy session before cookie was created. In other words I did something like:

session_start(); ... session_destroy();

So the server didn't have a chance to 'contact' with the browser before destroying the session. Simple solution that worked for me was

session_start(); ... $_SESSION=array();

step · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-26 08:17:40Z

Use this code:

if(session_status() === PHP_SESSION_ACTIVE) { session_unset(); session_destroy(); }

dbagnara · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-02 10:50:57Z

If you are using an autoloader, it may be failing to load a class that is saved in the session.

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