passing get_current_user to session variable in php

Question

I'm new at php and programming in general. I want to gather the user, host and IP address when a person loads my webpage and store it in session variables. I can see the values using

<?php
echo 'IP Address: ' . getHostByName(getHostName());
?>

<?php
echo gethostname() ;
?>

<?php
echo 'Username: ' . get_current_user();
?>

However, I don't seem to understand how I can then assign those values to session variables that I can then call in SQL queries to limit output based on the user variables. For instance, adding this to the PHP top code causing the form to fail to load:

 <?php
     session_start();     
     $_SESSION['username'] =   . get_current_user();
   ?>

I know I'm oversimplifying but I have spent hours researching the web looking for this answer which seems like it should be common place and of high value.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

you got syntax error. The dot in the second line.

 <?php
     session_start();     
     $_SESSION['username'] =  get_current_user();
   ?>

and make sure you put the session_start(); before any output.