User

API reference › yii › web › User

class	yii\web\User
Extends	yii\base\Component » yii\base\BaseObject
Implements	yii\base\Configurable
Since	2.0
Source	framework/web/User.php

User is the class for the user application component that manages the user authentication status.

You may use $isGuest to determine whether the current user is a guest or not. If the user is a guest, the $identity property would return null. Otherwise, it would be an instance of IdentityInterface.

You may call various methods to change the user authentication status:

• login(): sets the specified identity and remembers the authentication status in session and cookie;
• logout(): marks the user as a guest and clears the relevant information from session and cookie;
• setIdentity(): changes the user identity without touching session or cookie (this is best used in stateless RESTful API implementation).

Note that User only maintains the user authentication status. It does NOT handle how to authenticate a user. The logic of how to authenticate a user should be done in the class implementing IdentityInterface. You are also required to set $identityClass with the name of this class.

User is configured as an application component in Application by default. You can access that instance via Yii::$app->user.

You can modify its configuration by adding an array to your application config under components as it is shown in the following example:

'user' => [
    'identityClass' => 'app\models\User', // User must implement the IdentityInterface
    'enableAutoLogin' => true,
    // 'loginUrl' => ['user/login'],
    // ...
]

Properties

Property	Type	Description	Defined by
$absoluteAuthTimeout	int|null	The number of seconds in which the user will be logged out automatically regardless of activity. Default: null.	User
$absoluteAuthTimeoutParam	string	The session variable name used to store the value of absolute expiration timestamp of the authenticated state. Default: '__absoluteExpire'.	User
$acceptableRedirectTypes	array	MIME types for which this component should redirect to the $loginUrl. Default: ['text/html', 'application/xhtml+xml']. Available since 2.0.8.	User
$accessChecker	yii\rbac\CheckAccessInterface|string|array|null	The access checker object to use for checking access or the application component ID of the access checker. Default: null. Available since 2.0.9.	User
$authKeyParam	string	The session variable name used to store authentication key. Default: '__authKey'. Available since 2.0.41.	User
$authTimeout	int|null	The number of seconds in which the user will be logged out automatically if the user remains inactive. Default: null.	User
$authTimeoutParam	string	The session variable name used to store the value of expiration timestamp of the authenticated state. Default: '__expire'.	User
$autoRenewCookie	bool	Whether to automatically renew the identity cookie each time a page is requested. Default: true.	User
$behaviors read-only	array<yii\base\Behavior<static>>	List of behaviors attached to this component.	yii\base\Component
$enableAutoLogin	bool	Whether to enable cookie-based login. Default: false.	User
$enableSession	bool	Whether to use session to persist authentication status across multiple requests. Default: true.	User
$id read-only	string|int|null	The unique identifier for the user.	User
$identity	yii\web\T|null	The identity object associated with the currently logged-in user. null is returned if the user is not logged in (not authenticated).	User
$identityClass	class-string<yii\web\T>	The class name of the $identity object. Default: null.	User
$identityCookie	array	The configuration of the identity cookie. Default: ['name' => '_identity', 'httpOnly' => true].	User
$idParam	string	The session variable name used to store the value of $id. Default: '__id'.	User
$isGuest read-only	bool	Whether the current user is a guest.	User
$loginUrl	string|array|null	The URL for login when loginRequired() is called. Default: ['site/login'].	User
$returnUrl	string|array	The URL that the user should be redirected to after login.	User
$returnUrlParam	string	The session variable name used to store the value of $returnUrl. Default: '__returnUrl'.	User

Methods

Method	Description	Defined by
__construct()	Constructor.	yii\base\BaseObject
__call()	Calls the named method which is not a class method.	yii\base\Component
__clone()	This method is called after the object is created by cloning an existing one.	yii\base\Component
__get()	Returns the value of a component property.	yii\base\Component
__isset()	Checks if a property is set, i.e. defined and not null.	yii\base\Component
__set()	Sets the value of a component property.	yii\base\Component
__unset()	Sets a component property to be null.	yii\base\Component
attachBehavior()	Attaches a behavior to this component.	yii\base\Component
attachBehaviors()	Attaches a list of behaviors to the component.	yii\base\Component
behaviors()	Returns a list of behaviors that this component should behave as.	yii\base\Component
can()	Checks if the user can perform the operation as specified by the given permission.	User
canGetProperty()	Returns a value indicating whether a property can be read.	yii\base\Component
canSetProperty()	Returns a value indicating whether a property can be set.	yii\base\Component
checkRedirectAcceptable()	Checks if the Accept header contains a content type that allows redirection to the login page.	User
className() static	Returns the fully qualified name of this class.	yii\base\BaseObject
detachBehavior()	Detaches a behavior from the component.	yii\base\Component
detachBehaviors()	Detaches all behaviors from the component.	yii\base\Component
ensureBehaviors()	Makes sure that the behaviors declared in behaviors() are attached to this component.	yii\base\Component
getBehavior()	Returns the named behavior object.	yii\base\Component
getBehaviors()	Returns all behaviors attached to this component.	yii\base\Component
getId()	Returns a value that uniquely represents the user.	User
getIdentity()	Returns the identity object associated with the currently logged-in user.	User
getIsGuest()	Returns a value indicating whether the user is a guest (not authenticated).	User
getReturnUrl()	Returns the URL that the browser should be redirected to after successful login.	User
hasEventHandlers()	Returns a value indicating whether there is any handler attached to the named event.	yii\base\Component
hasMethod()	Returns a value indicating whether a method is defined.	yii\base\Component
hasProperty()	Returns a value indicating whether a property is defined for this component.	yii\base\Component
init()	Initializes the application component.	User
login()	Logs in a user.	User
loginByAccessToken()	Logs in a user by the given access token.	User
loginRequired()	Redirects the user browser to the login page.	User
logout()	Logs out the current user.	User
off()	Detaches an existing event handler from this component.	yii\base\Component
on()	Attaches an event handler to an event.	yii\base\Component
setIdentity()	Sets the user identity object.	User
setReturnUrl()	Remembers the URL in the session so that it can be retrieved back later by getReturnUrl().	User
switchIdentity()	Switches to a new identity for the current user.	User
trigger()	Triggers an event.	yii\base\Component
afterLogin() protected	This method is called after the user is successfully logged in.	User
afterLogout() protected	This method is invoked right after a user is logged out via logout().	User
beforeLogin() protected	This method is called before logging in a user.	User
beforeLogout() protected	This method is invoked when calling logout() to log out a user.	User
getAccessChecker() protected	Returns the access checker used for checking access.	User
getIdentityAndDurationFromCookie() protected	Determines if an identity cookie has a valid format and contains a valid auth key.	User
loginByCookie() protected	Logs in a user by cookie.	User
regenerateCsrfToken() protected	Regenerates CSRF token	User
removeIdentityCookie() protected	Removes the identity cookie.	User
renewAuthStatus() protected	Updates the authentication status using the information from session and cookie.	User
renewIdentityCookie() protected	Renews the identity cookie.	User
sendIdentityCookie() protected	Sends an identity cookie.	User

Constants

Constant	Value	Description	Defined by
EVENT_BEFORE_LOGIN	'beforeLogin'		User
EVENT_AFTER_LOGIN	'afterLogin'		User
EVENT_BEFORE_LOGOUT	'beforeLogout'		User
EVENT_AFTER_LOGOUT	'afterLogout'		User

Property details

$absoluteAuthTimeout

public int|null $absoluteAuthTimeout = null

The number of seconds in which the user will be logged out automatically regardless of activity.

Note that this will not work if $enableAutoLogin is true.

$absoluteAuthTimeoutParam

public string $absoluteAuthTimeoutParam = '__absoluteExpire'

The session variable name used to store the value of absolute expiration timestamp of the authenticated state.

This is used when $absoluteAuthTimeout is set.

$accessChecker

public yii\rbac\CheckAccessInterface|string|array|null $accessChecker = null

The access checker object to use for checking access or the application component ID of the access checker.

If not set the application auth manager will be used.

Since

2.0.9

$authTimeout

public int|null $authTimeout = null

The number of seconds in which the user will be logged out automatically if the user remains inactive.

If this property is not set, the user will be logged out after the current session expires (c.f. Session::$timeout). Note that this will not work if $enableAutoLogin is true.

$authTimeoutParam

public string $authTimeoutParam = '__expire'

The session variable name used to store the value of expiration timestamp of the authenticated state.

This is used when $authTimeout is set.

$autoRenewCookie

public bool $autoRenewCookie = true

Whether to automatically renew the identity cookie each time a page is requested.

This property is effective only when $enableAutoLogin is true. When this is false, the identity cookie will expire after the specified duration since the user is initially logged in. When this is true, the identity cookie will expire after the specified duration since the user visits the site the last time.

$enableAutoLogin

public bool $enableAutoLogin = false

Whether to enable cookie-based login.

Defaults to false. Note that this property will be ignored if $enableSession is false.

$enableSession

public bool $enableSession = true

Whether to use session to persist authentication status across multiple requests.

You set this property to be false if your application is stateless, which is often the case for RESTful APIs.

$id

public string|int|null $id

The unique identifier for the user.

If null, it means the user is a guest.

Access

Read-only (virtual property).

$identityCookie

public array $identityCookie = ['name' => '_identity', 'httpOnly' => true]

The configuration of the identity cookie.

This property is used only when $enableAutoLogin is true.

$loginUrl

public string|array|null $loginUrl = ['site/login']

The URL for login when loginRequired() is called.

If an array is given, UrlManager::createUrl() will be called to create the corresponding URL. The first element of the array should be the route to the login action, and the rest of the name-value pairs are GET parameters used to construct the login URL. For example,

['site/login', 'ref' => 1]

If this property is null, a 403 HTTP exception will be raised when loginRequired() is called.

$returnUrl

public string|array $returnUrl

The URL that the user should be redirected to after login.

If an array is given, UrlManager::createUrl() will be called to create the corresponding URL. The first element of the array should be the route, and the rest of the name-value pairs are GET parameters used to construct the URL. For example,

['admin/index', 'ref' => 1]

Method details

can()

public function can(string $permissionName, array $params = [], bool $allowCaching = true): bool

Checks if the user can perform the operation as specified by the given permission.

Note that you must configure “authManager” application component in order to use this method. Otherwise it will always return false.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$permissionName	string	The name of the permission (e.g. “edit post”) that needs access check.
$params	array	Name-value pairs that would be passed to the rules associated with the roles and permissions assigned to the user.
$allowCaching	bool	Whether to allow caching the result of access check. When this parameter is true (default), if the access check of an operation was performed before, its result will be directly returned when calling this method to check the same operation. If this parameter is false, this method will always call CheckAccessInterface::checkAccess() to obtain the up-to-date access result. Note that this caching is effective only within the same request and only works when $params = [].

Returns

bool: Whether the user can perform the operation as specified by the given permission.

checkRedirectAcceptable()

public function checkRedirectAcceptable(): bool

Checks if the Accept header contains a content type that allows redirection to the login page.

The login page is assumed to serve text/html or application/xhtml+xml by default. You can change acceptable content types by modifying $acceptableRedirectTypes property.

Returns

bool: Whether this request may be redirected to the login page.

Since

2.0.8

See also

• $acceptableRedirectTypes

getId()

public function getId(): string|int|null

Returns a value that uniquely represents the user.

Returns

string|int|null: The unique identifier for the user. If null, it means the user is a guest.

See also

• getIdentity()

getIdentity()

public function getIdentity(bool $autoRenew = true): yii\web\T|null

Returns the identity object associated with the currently logged-in user.

When $enableSession is true, this method may attempt to read the user’s authentication data stored in session and reconstruct the corresponding identity object, if it has not done so before.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$autoRenew	bool	Whether to automatically renew authentication status if it has not been done so before. This is only useful when $enableSession is true.

Returns

yii\web\T|null: The identity object associated with the currently logged-in user. null is returned if the user is not logged in (not authenticated).

See also

• login()
• logout()

getIsGuest()

public function getIsGuest(): bool

Returns a value indicating whether the user is a guest (not authenticated).

Returns

bool: Whether the current user is a guest.

See also

• getIdentity()

getReturnUrl()

public function getReturnUrl(string|array|null $defaultUrl = null): string

Returns the URL that the browser should be redirected to after successful login.

This method reads the return URL from the session. It is usually used by the login action which may call this method to redirect the browser to where it goes after successful authentication.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$defaultUrl	string|array|null	The default return URL in case it was not set previously. If this is null and the return URL was not set previously, Application::$homeUrl will be redirected to. Please refer to setReturnUrl() on accepted format of the URL.

Returns

string: The URL that the user should be redirected to after login.

See also

• loginRequired()

init()

public function init(): mixed

Initializes the application component.

Returns

mixed

login()

public function login(yii\web\T $identity, int $duration = 0): bool

Logs in a user.

After logging in a user:

• the user’s identity information is obtainable from the $identity property

If $enableSession is true:

• the identity information will be stored in session and be available in the next requests
• in case of $duration == 0: as long as the session remains active or till the user closes the browser
• in case of $duration > 0: as long as the session remains active or as long as the cookie remains valid by it’s $duration in seconds when $enableAutoLogin is set true.

If $enableSession is false:

• the $duration parameter will be ignored

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$identity	yii\web\T	The user identity (which should already be authenticated)
$duration	int	Number of seconds that the user can remain in logged-in status, defaults to 0

Returns

bool: Whether the user is logged in

loginByAccessToken()

public function loginByAccessToken(string $token, mixed $type = null): yii\web\T|null

Logs in a user by the given access token.

This method will first authenticate the user by calling IdentityInterface::findIdentityByAccessToken() with the provided access token. If successful, it will call login() to log in the authenticated user. If authentication fails or login() is unsuccessful, it will return null.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$token	string	The access token
$type	mixed	The type of the token. The value of this parameter depends on the implementation. For example, HttpBearerAuth will set this parameter to be yii\filters\auth\HttpBearerAuth.

Returns

yii\web\T|null: The identity associated with the given access token. Null is returned if the access token is invalid or login() is unsuccessful.

loginRequired()

public function loginRequired(bool $checkAjax = true, bool $checkAcceptHeader = true): yii\web\Response

Redirects the user browser to the login page.

Before the redirection, the current URL (if it’s not an AJAX url) will be kept as $returnUrl so that the user browser may be redirected back to the current page after successful login.

Make sure you set $loginUrl so that the user browser can be redirected to the specified login URL after calling this method.

Note that when $loginUrl is set, calling this method will NOT terminate the application execution.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$checkAjax	bool	Whether to check if the request is an AJAX request. When this is true and the request is an AJAX request, the current URL (for AJAX request) will NOT be set as the return URL.
$checkAcceptHeader	bool	Whether to check if the request accepts HTML responses. Defaults to true. When this is true and the request does not accept HTML responses the current URL will not be SET as the return URL. Also instead of redirecting the user an ForbiddenHttpException is thrown. This parameter is available since version 2.0.8.

Returns

Response: The redirection response if $loginUrl is set

Throws

• ForbiddenHttpException: the “Access Denied” HTTP exception if $loginUrl is not set or a redirect is not applicable.

logout()

public function logout(bool $destroySession = true): bool

Logs out the current user.

This will remove authentication-related session data. If $destroySession is true, all session data will be removed.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$destroySession	bool	Whether to destroy the whole session. Defaults to true. This parameter is ignored if $enableSession is false.

Returns

bool: Whether the user is logged out

setIdentity()

public function setIdentity(yii\web\T|null $identity): mixed

Sets the user identity object.

Note that this method does not deal with session or cookie. You should usually use switchIdentity() to change the identity of the current user.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$identity	yii\web\T|null	The identity object associated with the currently logged user. If null, it means the current user will be a guest without any associated identity.

Returns

mixed

Throws

• yii\base\InvalidValueException: if $identity object does not implement IdentityInterface.

setReturnUrl()

public function setReturnUrl(string|array $url): mixed

Remembers the URL in the session so that it can be retrieved back later by getReturnUrl().

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$url	string|array	The URL that the user should be redirected to after login. If an array is given, UrlManager::createUrl() will be called to create the corresponding URL. The first element of the array should be the route, and the rest of the name-value pairs are GET parameters used to construct the URL. For example, [‘admin/index’, ‘ref’ => 1]

Returns

mixed

switchIdentity()

public function switchIdentity(yii\web\T|null $identity, int $duration = 0): mixed

Switches to a new identity for the current user.

When $enableSession is true, this method may use session and/or cookie to store the user identity information, according to the value of $duration. Please refer to login() for more details.

This method is mainly called by login(), logout() and loginByCookie() when the current user needs to be associated with the corresponding identity information.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$identity	yii\web\T|null	The identity information to be associated with the current user. If null, it means switching the current user to be a guest.
$duration	int	Number of seconds that the user can remain in logged-in status. This parameter is used only when $identity is not null.

Returns

mixed

afterLogin()

protected function afterLogin(yii\web\T $identity, bool $cookieBased, int $duration): mixed

This method is called after the user is successfully logged in.

The default implementation will trigger the EVENT_AFTER_LOGIN event. If you override this method, make sure you call the parent implementation so that the event is triggered.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$identity	yii\web\T	The user identity information
$cookieBased	bool	Whether the login is cookie-based
$duration	int	Number of seconds that the user can remain in logged-in status. If 0, it means login till the user closes the browser or the session is manually destroyed.

Returns

mixed

afterLogout()

protected function afterLogout(yii\web\T $identity): mixed

This method is invoked right after a user is logged out via logout().

The default implementation will trigger the EVENT_AFTER_LOGOUT event. If you override this method, make sure you call the parent implementation so that the event is triggered.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$identity	yii\web\T	The user identity information

Returns

mixed

beforeLogin()

protected function beforeLogin(yii\web\T $identity, bool $cookieBased, int $duration): bool

This method is called before logging in a user.

The default implementation will trigger the EVENT_BEFORE_LOGIN event. If you override this method, make sure you call the parent implementation so that the event is triggered.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$identity	yii\web\T	The user identity information
$cookieBased	bool	Whether the login is cookie-based
$duration	int	Number of seconds that the user can remain in logged-in status. If 0, it means login till the user closes the browser or the session is manually destroyed.

Returns

bool: Whether the user should continue to be logged in

beforeLogout()

protected function beforeLogout(yii\web\T $identity): bool

This method is invoked when calling logout() to log out a user.

The default implementation will trigger the EVENT_BEFORE_LOGOUT event. If you override this method, make sure you call the parent implementation so that the event is triggered.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$identity	yii\web\T	The user identity information

Returns

bool: Whether the user should continue to be logged out

getAccessChecker()

protected function getAccessChecker(): yii\rbac\CheckAccessInterface|null

Returns the access checker used for checking access.

Returns

yii\rbac\CheckAccessInterface|null

Since

2.0.9

getIdentityAndDurationFromCookie()

protected function getIdentityAndDurationFromCookie(): array|null

Determines if an identity cookie has a valid format and contains a valid auth key.

This method is used when $enableAutoLogin is true. This method attempts to authenticate a user using the information in the identity cookie.

Returns

array|null: Returns an array of ‘identity’ and ‘duration’ if valid, otherwise null.

Since

2.0.9

See also

• loginByCookie()

loginByCookie()

protected function loginByCookie(): mixed

Logs in a user by cookie.

This method attempts to log in a user using the ID and authKey information provided by the identity cookie.

Returns

mixed

regenerateCsrfToken()

protected function regenerateCsrfToken(): mixed

Regenerates CSRF token

Returns

mixed

Since

2.0.14.2

removeIdentityCookie()

protected function removeIdentityCookie(): mixed

Removes the identity cookie.

This method is used when $enableAutoLogin is true.

Returns

mixed

Since

2.0.9

renewAuthStatus()

protected function renewAuthStatus(): mixed

Updates the authentication status using the information from session and cookie.

This method will try to determine the user identity using the $idParam session variable.

If $authTimeout is set, this method will refresh the timer.

If the user identity cannot be determined by session, this method will try to login by cookie if $enableAutoLogin is true.

Returns

mixed

renewIdentityCookie()

protected function renewIdentityCookie(): mixed

Renews the identity cookie.

This method will set the expiration time of the identity cookie to be the current time plus the originally specified cookie duration.

Returns

mixed

sendIdentityCookie()

protected function sendIdentityCookie(yii\web\T $identity, int $duration): mixed

Sends an identity cookie.

This method is used when $enableAutoLogin is true. It saves $id, auth key, and the duration of cookie-based login information in the cookie.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$identity	yii\web\T
$duration	int	Number of seconds that the user can remain in logged-in status.

Returns

mixed

See also

• loginByCookie()