note 17236 deleted from function.session-destroy by jimw

The above example requires you (at least in Win2k) to give read/write permission to your sessions directory: unlink(session_save_path().'/sess_'.$PHPSESSID); setcookie('PHPSESSID','',time()-3600,'/'); You can achieve the same without setting the permissions using: session_destroy(); setcookie('PHPSESSID','',time()-3600,'/'); There is no need to unset all your variables either (as some above posts suggested) unless you want to make sure they disappear immediatly; instead of at the end of the page scope. You can also achieve the same by simply adding to the above: if (isset($name_of_any_previous_session)&&endless!="1") { header("Location: ".$PHP_SELF."?endless=1"); //endless is just protection against an endless loop in the case the session just won't die }