[Logician]

no, I meant 'static' command will preserve the variable value inside the function but only for that run of the script.

If you want to preserve the value for the user's session, you need to use it as a session variable:

session_start(); //starts a session
$id=session_id(); //your session id that you started
$a=1; //your variable
session_register("a"); //makes your variable a session var.

and now call all your relevant scripts with "$id" (session variable) to keep your session (hence session variables). For example if a form returns some info back to your same script, use this:

<form METHOD="POST" ACTION="yourscript.php?=$id">

By this way your $a is preserved for the entire session for this user..

Hope this helps..