＆（＆符号）char在var_dump（）上的$ _SESSION（）数组中

Question

I have a index.php with a start_session(); at the top.

Then if you click on a menu item it calls a include(); page (lets say page B) . There is no start_session(); at the top of that page because I thought because its included I can omit it.

in this page B there is a AJAX call to call a scripts page related to page B . On this page I would like to use a stored $_SESSION(); variable containing the username to do some things. I do start the page with...

 if(session_id() == '') { session_start(); } 

When I do a var_dump($GLOBALS); on this scripts page it contains

 '_SESSION' => & array (size=2) 'username' => string 'mo' (length=2) 'administrator' => string '0' (length=1) 

My question is, What is the ampersand & 's chars meaning in this case?

Can I use the $_SESSION(); variables as normal in this case?

Answer 1

It's a reference.
The ampersand (&) back references the array stored under the _SESSION key in the $GLOBALS array, when you try and access $_SESSION super global.