9 replies to this topic

[tayolad]

SOS.
I use session_start() at the begining of a page but receive this error message. Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent...
Please help to remove this.

[BlaineSch]

Headers already sent. You can't send things like cookies after sending ANYTHING to the browser. By anything, I mean anything including html and whitespace. Even the smallest space before your opening php tag can cause that error.

A common mistake is including a file with whitespace. Example:

<?PHP
// index.php
// Has NO whitespace on this page
include('file.php');
session_start();

<?PHP
//file.php
function doStuff(){
// do stuff
}
?>
    

In file.php and index.php there is no whitespace before the opening php tag, but in "file.php" at the end, I close PHP and it has a space at the end which gets included before the session has started, which is sent to the browser. It's good practice not to close PHP Tags in files that don't output to the browser.

[grisha]

Can you paste the full error message? I believe there's information about the file causing the problem. General rule:

<?php session_start();

/* everything else goes here */

?>

[tayolad]

Thank you. I checked, but there seems to be no blank space anywhere. I have checked all the included files also and there are no blank spaces. I have been battling with this thing for some hours now. Please help.

[tayolad]

This is the error message: Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /home/xyz/public_html/php_scripts/staffmainpage.php:1) in /home/xyz/public_html/php_scripts/staffmainpage.php on line 2

and this is the first few code of the file staffmainpage.php:<?php
session_start();
$messages=array();
require('../../funcs_and_includes/php_includes/primary_include.php');
require('../../funcs_and_includes/php_includes/fnValidators.php');
require('../../funcs_and_includes/php_includes/fnConnectToDB.php');
require('../../funcs_and_includes/php_includes/fnMyFunctions1.php');
$school_name="";$school_address="";I have checed all the included, no spaces.

[grisha]

If those files are encoded with UTF8 check the BOM settings. If the file is encoded with BOM convert it to UTF8 without BOM. Basically do it with all your files.

[xsonline]

Why not try replacing session_start(); by die();

This helps you to check if there realy is nothing sent before. I know it's a strange trick, but it usually works for me :).

[tayolad]

If the file is encoded with BOM convert it to UTF8 without BOM. Basically do it with all your files.

grisha, How do I do the conversion?. I discovered that the preceding script file is ascii.

[Alexander]

If you are in Windows, try opening up your PHP page with notepad, and saving the document (File -> Save As) and ensure the drop down menu ANSI is selected. Then try testing that specific file, it should pass assuming you've no other visible whitespace. If it still persists, then we can look at other options.

[tayolad]

hey! I must thank everyone that contributes to this. The problem solved. Great! I followed alexandra's advise and it works. Thank you all.