How do I start a session in a Python web application?

Question

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I\'m looking for a function similar to PHP\'s session_start() for Python. I want to access a dictionary like

Answer 1

Python is not a web language in itself like PHP, so it has not built in web features. There are many modules that add this functionality however, but then you'll have to be specific about which one you're using.

Here's how you could use it with the Django framework, for example:

def post_comment(request, new_comment):
    if request.session.get('has_commented', False):
        return HttpResponse("You've already commented.")
    c = comments.Comment(comment=new_comment)
    c.save()
    request.session['has_commented'] = True
    return HttpResponse('Thanks for your comment!')

In simpler web frameworks there might not be session support. Sessions aren't impossible to implement yourself, but you can probably find a stand-alone module that adds support by receiving/sending the session id to it (the session id is stored in a cookie, which almost all web frameworks have some kind of support for.)