How to Create a Basic Login Script in PHP

Questions and Answers

Interested in creating your own forum page, blog, or even a shopping cart? A login area is the first step. Read below the jump to learn how to create a script for it in PHP.

EditSteps

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   Create the login database and table. For the purposes of the code examples below, we will assume the database name to be "test" and the table name to be "members". The database and table can be created through the control panel of your webhost. The "members" table will store the username and the passwords of all the people would be allowed access via this login script. The table should have a unique id field as the primary key, a username field, and a password field.
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   Create the login interface. This is an HTML page containing a form, two text boxes for the user name and password, and a submit button. As long as you have these elements, you may design the layout however you wish. 
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6. 3Create the php script that will check the login input against the database. This script will connect to the database, send a query and retrieve the result, check to see if the username and password is correct and send you to the next page depending on the result of the comparison.
7. Create the page that will display after login success. This script will start your session and display an html message of your choosing.
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9. Create log-out script. This step is optional as sessions can time out. If you wish to create one, you will need a button or link to initiate the script and a message to confirm the success of logging out.