setcookie

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

setcookie — 发送 Cookie

说明

setcookie ( string $name , string $value = "" , int $expires = 0 , string $path = "" , string $domain = "" , bool $secure = false , bool $httponly = false ) : bool

PHP 7.3.0 起有效的签名：

setcookie ( string $name , string $value = "" , array $options = [] ) : bool

setcookie() 定义了 Cookie，会和剩下的 HTTP 头一起发送给客户端。和其他 HTTP 头一样，必须在脚本产生任意输出之前发送 Cookie（由于协议的限制）。请在产生任何输出之前（包括 <html> 和 <head> 或者空格）调用本函数。

一旦设置 Cookie 后，下次打开页面时可以使用 $_COOKIE 读取。 Cookie 值同样也存在于 $_REQUEST。

参数

» RFC 6265 提供了 setcookie() 每个参数的参考标准。

name

Cookie 名称。

value

Cookie 值。这个值储存于用户的电脑里，请勿储存敏感信息。比如 name 是 'cookiename'，可通过 $_COOKIE['cookiename'] 获取它的值。

expires

Cookie 的过期时间。这是个 Unix 时间戳，即 Unix 纪元以来（格林威治时间 1970 年 1 月 1 日 00:00:00）的秒数。也就是说，基本可以用 time() 函数的结果加上希望过期的秒数。或者也可以用 mktime()。 time()+60*60*24*30 就是设置 Cookie 30 天后过期。如果设置成零，或者忽略参数， Cookie 会在会话结束时过期（也就是关掉浏览器时）。

Note:
你可能注意到了，expires 使用 Unix 时间戳而非 Wdy, DD-Mon-YYYY HH:MM:SS GMT 这样的日期格式，是因为 PHP 内部作了转换。

path

Cookie 有效的服务器路径。设置成 '/' 时，Cookie 对整个域名 domain 有效。如果设置成 '/foo/'， Cookie 仅仅对 domain 中 /foo/ 目录及其子目录有效（比如 /foo/bar/）。默认值是设置 Cookie 时的当前目录。

domain

Cookie 的有效域名/子域名。设置成子域名（例如 'www.example.com'），会使 Cookie 对这个子域名和它的三级域名有效（例如 w2.www.example.com）。要让 Cookie 对整个域名有效（包括它的全部子域名），只要设置成域名就可以了（这个例子里是 'example.com'）。

旧版浏览器仍然在使用废弃的 » RFC 2109，需要一个前置的点 . 来匹配所有子域名。

secure

设置这个 Cookie 是否仅仅通过安全的 HTTPS 连接传给客户端。设置成 true 时，只有安全连接存在时才会设置 Cookie。如果是在服务器端处理这个需求，程序员需要仅仅在安全连接上发送此类 Cookie （通过 $_SERVER["HTTPS"] 判断）。

httponly

设置成 true，Cookie 仅可通过 HTTP 协议访问。这意思就是 Cookie 无法通过类似 JavaScript 这样的脚本语言访问。要有效减少 XSS 攻击时的身份窃取行为，可建议用此设置（虽然不是所有浏览器都支持），不过这个说法经常有争议。 true 或 false

options

An associative array which may have any of the keys expires, path, domain, secure, httponly and samesite. If any other key is present an error of level E_WARNING is generated. The values have the same meaning as described for the parameters with the same name. The value of the samesite element should be either None, Lax or Strict. If any of the allowed options are not given, their default values are the same as the default values of the explicit parameters. If the samesite element is omitted, no SameSite cookie attribute is set.

返回值

如果在调用本函数以前就产生了输出，setcookie() 会调用失败并返回 false。如果 setcookie() 成功运行，返回 true。当然，它的意思并非用户是否已接受 Cookie。

范例

发送 Cookie 的几个例子：

Example #1 setcookie() 发送例子


<?php
$value = 'something from somewhere';

setcookie("TestCookie", $value);
setcookie("TestCookie", $value, time()+3600);  /* 1 小时过期  */
setcookie("TestCookie", $value, time()+3600, "/~rasmus/", "example.com", 1);
?>

注意：在发送 Cookie 时，值的部分会被自动 urlencode 编码。收到 Cookie 时，会自动解码，并赋值到可变的 Cookie 名称上。如果不想被编码，可以使用 setrawcookie() 代替。在脚本里查看我们的测试 Cookie 的内容，使用下面的一个例子：


<?php
// 打印一个单独的 Cookie
echo $_COOKIE["TestCookie"];

//  debug/test 查看所有 Cookie 的另一种方式
print_r($_COOKIE);
?>

Example #2 setcookie() 删除例子

要删除一个 Cookie，应该设置过期时间为过去，以触发浏览器的删除机制。下面的例子展示了如何删除上个例子里的 Cookie：


<?php
// 设置过期时间为一个小时前
setcookie("TestCookie", "", time() - 3600);
setcookie("TestCookie", "", time() - 3600, "/~rasmus/", "example.com", 1);
?>

Example #3 setcookie() 和数组

通过带 array 标记的 Cookie 名称，也可以把 Cookie 设置成数组。如果有数组元素，可以把它放进 Cookie 里；脚本接收到时，Cookie 名称里的值会是一个数组：


<?php
// 设置 Cookie
setcookie("cookie[three]", "cookiethree");
setcookie("cookie[two]", "cookietwo");
setcookie("cookie[one]", "cookieone");

// 网页刷新后，打印出以下内容
if (isset($_COOKIE['cookie'])) {
    foreach ($_COOKIE['cookie'] as $name => $value) {
        $name = htmlspecialchars($name);
        $value = htmlspecialchars($value);
        echo "$name : $value <br />\n";
    }
}
?>

以上例程会输出：

three : cookiethree
two : cookietwo
one : cookieone

Note: Using separator characters such as [ and ] as part of the cookie name is not compliant to RFC 6265, section 4, but supposed to be supported by user agents according to RFC 6265, section 5.

更新日志

版本	说明
7.3.0	An alternative signature supporting an `options` array has been added. This signature supports also setting of the SameSite cookie attribute.

注释

Note:
要在调用本函数前输出内容，可以使用输出缓冲：让输出的内容在服务器里缓冲起来，直至真正发送给浏览器。可在脚本里调用 ob_start() 和 ob_end_flush()，或设置 output_buffering php.ini 或服务器配置文件里的配置指令。

注意避坑：

在页面（ Cookie 可见的页面）下次刷新前，Cookie 不会生效。测试 Cookie 是否已经成功设置，需要在下次页面加载时、Cookie 过期前检测。过期时间是通过 expires 参数设置的。直接调用 print_r($_COOKIE); 调试检测 Cookie 是个很好的方式。
为同一个参数再次设置 Cookie 前，必须先把它删掉。如果参数的值是空 string 或 false，并且其他参数和上次调用 setcookie 仍旧一样，则指定的名称会被远程客户端删除。内部的实现是：将值设置成 'deleted'，并且过期时间是一年前。
因为设置值成 false 会导致 Cookie 被删除，所以要避免使用布尔值。代替方式：0 是 false，1 是 true。
Cookie 名称可以设置成数组名称，PHP 脚本里会是数组，但用户系统里储存的是单独分开的 Cookie。可以考虑使用 explode() 为一个 Cookie 设置多个名称和值。不建议将 serialize() 用于此处，因为它会导致安全漏洞。

多次调用 setcookie() 会按调用顺序执行。

参见

header() - 发送原生 HTTP 头
setrawcookie() - 发送未经 URL 编码的 cookie
Cookie 章节
» RFC 6265
» RFC 2109

User Contributed Notes

Anonymous 04-Oct-2020 07:36


Chrome versions prior to version 67 reject samesite=none cookies. And starting in Chrome version 84 samesite=none cookies without the secure attribute are also rejected. But that doesn't mean you can't set cookies on an unencrypted connection. The simple way around it is to use browser sniffing to detect samesite=none compatible browsers:



$cookie_string = 'set-cookie: name=value';



if (!preg_match('/Chrom[^ \/]+\/([0-9]+)[\.0-9]* /', $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], $matches) || $matches[1]>66 && $matches[1]<84) {// match samesite=none compatible browsers

    $cookie_string.= '; samesite=none';

}



header($cookie_string, false);// set cookie

Anonymous 04-Aug-2020 04:24


Just an example to clarify the use of the array options, especially since Mozilla is going to deprecate / penalise the use of SameSite = none,  which is used by default if not using array options. 



<?php

$arr_cookie_options = array (

                'expires' => time() + 60*60*24*30, 

                'path' => '/', 

                'domain' => '.example.com', // leading dot for compatibility or use subdomain

                'secure' => true,     // or false

                'httponly' => true,    // or false

                'samesite' => 'None' // None || Lax  || Strict

                );

setcookie('TestCookie', 'The Cookie Value', $arr_cookie_options);    

?>

synnus at gmail dot com 03-Aug-2020 10:04


The " PHPSESSID " cookie will soon be rejected because its " sameSite " attribute is set to " none " or an invalid value, and without " secure " attribute. To learn more about the "sameSite" attribute, visit https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Set-Cookie/SameSite.



<?php

 ini_set("session.cookie_secure", 1);

 session_start();



my PHP code .... 



?>

Anonymous 19-May-2020 12:29


To add the "samesite" attribute, you can concatenate it to the path option until it gets implemented/documented properly

Eg:

<?php

    setcookie('cookie_name', 'cookie_value', 0, '/; SameSite=strict');

?>

user at example.com 23-Jan-2020 07:47


As of PHP 7.3.0 the setcookie() method supports the SameSite attribute in its options and will accept None as a valid value.



For earlier versions of PHP,  you can set the header() directly:



header('Set-Cookie: cross-site-cookie=bar; SameSite=None; Secure');

fapchat at gmail dot com 18-Jan-2020 11:15


Instead of this:

<?php setcookie( "TestCookie", $value, strtotime( '+30 days' ) ); ?>



You can this:

<?php setcookie( "TestCookie"); ?>

niall at maranelda dot org 09-Oct-2019 09:28


Be warned! PHP will mangle the names of incoming cookies far more than others have detailed below!



Theoretically, the following non-alphanumeric characters are allowed in a cookie name:



!#$%&'()*+-./:<>?@[]^_`{|}~



However, if you do this:



<?php

    setcookie('!#$%&\'()*+-./:<>?@[]^_`{|}~', 123);

    setcookie('!#$%&\'()*+-./:<>?@[^_`{|}~', 466);

    setcookie('!#$%&\'()*+-./:<>?@]^_`{|}~', 789);

    setcookie('!#$%&\'()*+-./:<>?@^_`{|}~', 'abc');

?>



then this:



<?php

    print_r($_COOKIE);

?>



you get this back:



<?php

Array

(

    [!#$%&'()*_-_/:<>?@] => Array

        (

            [0] => 123

        )



    [!#$%&'()*_-_/:<>?@_^_`{|}~] => 456

    [!#$%&'()*_-_/:<>?@]^_`{|}~] => 789

    [!#$%&'()*_-_/:<>?@^_`{|}~] => abc

)

?>



The rules would appear to be as follows:



- Convert all periods to underscores (as detailed below).

- Convert all plus signs to underscores.

- Convert all unmatched open square brackets to underscores.

- Square bracket pairs mean the value is an array; ignore everything after the closing square bracket.



Note that these rules are only applied by PHP when generating the $_COOKIE array; the cookie name part in the headers sent by your browser and as received by PHP are exactly as you specified above;



<?php

    echo $_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE'];

?>



gives



<?php

    !#$%&'()*+-./:<>?@[]^_`{|}~=123; !#$%&'()*+-./:<>?@[^_`{|}~=456; !#$%&'()*+-./:<>?@]^_`{|}~=789; !#$%&'()*+-./:<>?@^_`{|}~=abc

?>



It would be nice if the official notes mentioned this conversion.

Anonymous 30-Jan-2019 03:49


I haven't seen this mentioned here and had a lot of issues (and created a lot of stupid hacks) before I figured this out.



If you have a couple of environments for example, and are trying to set cookies on two domains:



example.com (main site)

dev.example.com (dev site)



In this case your (same named) cookies will interfere with each other if you're trying to set cookies with the domain parameter.  



Simply use an empty string for the domain parameter and the cookies will refer to each host separately.



If you use the subdomain www. on the main site this won't be an issue, but without a subdomain you'll have issues with reading each others' cookies.

stuff at joneva dot de 20-Sep-2017 09:58


How to store a cookie in php with JSON and read it in JavaScript correctly without using setcookieraw



$defaultActions = array(

                '1' => '0',

                '2' => '0',

                '3' => '0',

                '4' => '0',

                '5' => '0',

                '6' => '0',

                '7' => '0',

                '8' => '0',

                '9' => '0',

                '10' => '0'

            );

$json_str = json_encode($defaultActions); 



//delete all cookies

if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE'])) {

    $cookies = explode(';', $_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE']);

    foreach($cookies as $cookie) {

        $parts = explode('=', $cookie);

        $name = trim($parts[0]);

        setcookie($name, '', time()-1000);

        setcookie($name, '', time()-1000, '/');

    }

} 

//setrawcookie("test", $json_str, false,"/",false); 



setcookie("test", $json_str, false,"/",false);



?>



<script type="text/javascript">

    

    function getCookie(name) {

        var value = "; " + document.cookie;

        var parts = value.split("; " + name + "=");

        if (parts.length == 2)

            return parts.pop().split(";").shift();

    } 

    

    console.log(decodeURIComponent(getCookie('test')));

    

</script>

nacho at casinelli dot com 12-Mar-2017 11:33


It's worth a mention: you should avoid dots on cookie names.



<?php

// this will actually set 'ace_fontSize' name:

setcookie( 'ace.fontSize', 18 );

?>

dont at mail dot me 08-Feb-2017 10:45


> "When deleting a cookie you should assure that the expiration date is in the past, to trigger the removal mechanism in your browser"



This part of the documentation is no longer accurate. On my version of PHP (5.6.28) setting a null, empty string or boolean false value causes the server to ignore your expire date parameter and always sends value "deleted" and expire date 1970-01-01 00:00:01.

lferro9000 at gmail dot com 20-Jan-2017 10:55


Of notice, the cookie when set with a zero expire or ommited WILL not expire when the browser closes.



What happens is that the browser, when closes the window, if it is a well behaved browser, will delete the cookie from the cookie store.



However, the cookie will survive in the server until the garbage collector removes the session, which will happen only when it kicks in and checks the specified session is out of bounds of the setting stated in:



http://php.net/manual/en/session.configuration.php#ini.session.gc-maxlifetime



Please check also:



http://php.net/manual/en/session.security.ini.php



And in case of doubt, PHP runs on the webserver and has no way whatsoever to interact with a browser apart from receiving requests and answering with responses, so assuming that a cookie will be removed from a browser is just an "hint" for the browser. There is no warranty that such will happen as instructed.



That is one of the reasons why the cookie values sent to browsers by some platforms are encrypted and timestamped, to ensure that they are actual and not tampered.

byz 23-Jul-2016 02:57


exmaple with test.com；



setcookie('empty_domain','value',time()+3600,'')  

 equal       test.com



setcookie('test_com_domain','value',time()+3600,'','test.com')   

equal       .test.com



setcookie('dot_test_com_domain','value',time()+3600,'','.test.com')  

 equal       .test.com



ps:   .test.com   has its self    and child domain

dmitry dot koterov at gmail dot com 24-Jun-2015 05:38


Note that at least in PHP 5.5 setcookie() removes previously set cookies with the same name (even if you've set them via header()), so previously fired Set-Cookie headers with e.g. PHPSESSID name are not flushed to the browser. Even headers_list() doesn't see them after session_start():



header("Set-Cookie: PHPSESSID=abc; path=/; domain=.sub.domain.com");

header("Set-Cookie: PHPSESSID=abc; path=/; domain=.domain.com");

print_r(headers_list()); // here you see two Set-Cookie headers with domains for PHPSESSID

session_id('abc');

session_start();

print_r(headers_list()); // here you don't; you see only one Set-Cookie produced by session_start()

ellert at vankoperen dot nl 10-Jul-2014 10:58


Caveat: if you use URL RewriteRules to get stuff like this: domain.com/bla/stuf/etc into parameters, you might run into a hickup when setting cookies.

At least in my setup a change in one of the parameters resulted in the cookie not being 'there' anymore.

The fix is simple: specify the domain. '/' will usualy do fine.

walterquez 28-Sep-2012 04:43


Instead of this:


<?php setcookie( "TestCookie", $value, time()+(60*60*24*30) ); ?>





You can this:


<?php setcookie( "TestCookie", $value, strtotime( '+30 days' ) ); ?>

Bachsau 26-Jun-2012 01:49


Want to remove a cookie?



Many people do it the complicated way:

setcookie('name', 'content', time()-3600);



But why do you make it so complicated and risk it not working, when the client's time is wrong? Why fiddle around with time();



Here's the easiest way to unset a cookie:

setcookie('name', 'content', 1);



Thats it.

mkmohsinali at gmail dot com 28-Jul-2011 11:01


#cookies.php

/*This code will demonstrate use of cookies with PHP

It is very easy to understand and is better for beginner to

understand and get idea about power of cookies when used

with PHP.Here we give user a form to choose colors he/she

likes for website and when he/she visits site again within one

hour his/her settings are saved and read from cookie 

and he/she doesn't have to set the page color and page

text color again.You can change time from 3600

seconds to whatever you deem appropriate in your case.

if you don't understand anything please email me*/



<?php

#checking if form has been submitted

if (isset($_POST['submitted'])){

#if yes (form is submitted) assign values from POST array to variables

$newbgColor=$_POST['bgColor'];

$newtxtColor=$_POST['txtColor'];

#set cookies

setcookie("bgColor",$newbgColor,time()+3600);

setcookie("txtColor",$newtxtColor,time()+3600);



}

#in case user has come for first time and cookies are not set then

if ((!isset($_COOKIE['bgColor']) ) && (!isset($_COOKIE['txtColor']))){

$bgColor = "Black";

$txtColor="White";

}

#if cookies are set then use them

else{

$bgColor = $_COOKIE['bgColor'];

$txtColor = $_COOKIE['txtColor'];

}

?>

<!-- HTML Page-->

<html>

<body bgcolor="<?php echo $bgColor ?>" text="<?php echo $txtColor ?>"> 

<form action= "<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>" method ="POST">

<p>Body Color:</p>

<select name=bgColor>

<option value ="Red">Red</option>

<option value ="Green" selected>Green</option>

<option value ="Blue">Blue</option>

<option value ="Yellow">Yellow</option>

<option value ="Black">Black</option>

<option value ="Brown">Brown</option>

<option value ="White">White</option>

</select>

<p>Text Color:</p>

<select name=txtColor>

<tion value ="Red">Red</option>

<option value ="Green" selected>Green</option>

<option value ="Blue">Blue</option>

<option value ="Yellow">Yellow</option>

<option value ="Black">Black</option>

<option value ="Brown">Brown</option>

<option value ="White">White</option>

</select>

<input type ="hidden" name="submitted" value="true"></br>

<input type="submit" value="remind">

</form>

</body>

</html>

MrXCol 13-Jul-2011 08:27


If you're having problem with IE not accepting session cookies this could help:



It seems the IE (6, 7, 8 and 9) do not accept the part 'Expire=0' when setting a session cookie. To fix it just don't put any expire at all. The default behavior when the 'Expire' is not set is to set the cookie as a session one. 



(Firefox doesn't complains, btw.)

chris at styl dot ee 31-May-2011 08:10


I was searching for a simple example of creating a cookie, storing a random number and updating it on refresh. I couldn't find one so I had to figure it out on my own....



- - - - 

One thing to *NOTE* is technically you can't update a cookie, you can only overwrite it with a new one with the same name.



- - - -



This creates a random number, stores it in a cookie, then references it on refresh, checks for duplicates and does necessary correction, then stores it again, rinse and repeat...



<?php

ob_start();

$MaxCount = 4;// set the max of the counter, in my tests "4" = (0,1,2,3) I adjusted below (+1) to get a "real" 4 (0,1,2,3,4) this is in reality 5 keys to humans, you can adjust script to eliminate "0", but my script makes use of the "0"



$random =(rand()%($MaxCount+1));//give me a random number limited by the max, adding "1" because computers start counting at "0"



if(!isset($_COOKIE['random'])){// check if random number cookie is not set

    //echo"not set";

    setcookie('random', $random);//set the cookie for the first time

    }else{

    $lastRandom= $_COOKIE['random']; //hold the last number if it was set before

    if($lastRandom == $random){//some logic to avoid repeats

     if($random < $MaxCount){//if below max, add 1

        $random++;

        //echo "under the max, adding 1, ";    

    }elseif($random >= ($MaxCount-1)){// if for some reason the random number is more than max or equal to it -1, and an additional -1 for max count in initial var (so in reality this -1 from intial max var, and -1 from $random which should be the same number)

            $random--;

            //echo "hit the max, subtracting 1, ";

        }else{

        $random++;

        //echo "no case match, adding 1, ";    

        }

    //echo "(".$lastRandom.", ".$random. "), they matched initally - was it fixed?";

    }else{

    //echo "(".$lastRandom.", ".$random. "), they DO NOT match";

    setcookie('random', $random);    

    }

    //echo"is set: {$_COOKIE['random']}";

}



ob_end_flush();



?>

bocian941 at pawno dot pl 24-Apr-2011 12:51


My 2 functions to use "live cookies":





<?php


    function SetCookieLive($name, $value='', $expire = 0, $path = '', $domain='', $secure=false, $httponly=false)


    {


        $_COOKIE[$name] = $value;


        return setcookie($name, $value, $expire, $path, $domain, $secure, $httponly);


    }





    function RemoveCookieLive($name)


    {


        unset($_COOKIE[$name]);


        return setcookie($name, NULL, -1);


    }


?>

jdknock (at) gMaIl (dot) com 09-Feb-2011 09:08


IE7 can have trouble with settings cookies that are embedded in an iframe. The problem lies with a W3C standard called Platform for Privacy Preferences or P3P for short.





To overcome, include the header:





header('P3P:CP="IDC DSP COR ADM DEVi TAIi PSA PSD IVAi IVDi CONi HIS OUR IND CNT"');





before setting the cookie.

RC 24-Sep-2010 07:50


For those of your banging your head as to why a cookie is not present when Internet Explorer 6 prints, the explanation is quite interesting. After a bit of investigation, a cookie with an expiration time other than 0 fails to be passed from IE6 to the server when printing. A cookie with an expiration time of 0 is sent.



Therefore:



setcookie("TestCookie", $value, time()+3600); //will not be sent from Print / Print Preview in IE6



setcookie("TestCookie", $value, 0); //will be sent from Print / Print Preview in IE6



I'll let everyone figure out who's bright idea it was to not send normal expiring cookies when printing in IE6...

Anonymous 10-Sep-2010 03:20


A period in a cookie name (like user.name) seems to show up in the $_COOKIE array as an underscore (so user_name). This means that for example $_COOKIE["user_name"] must be used to read a cookie that has been set with setcookie("user.name" ...), which is already rather confusing. 



Furthermore the variable $_COOKIE["user_name"] will retain the value set by setcookie("user.name" ...) and no amount of calling setcookie("user_name" ...) will alter this value. This is rather trivially fixed by clearing the "user.name" cookie, but it can take a while to realize this since there's only "user_name" in $_COOKIE.



Hope this saves someone some time.

jay at w3prodigy dot com 17-May-2010 12:31


You can also delete cookies by supplying setcookie an empty value.



setcookie("w3p_cookie", "");

Eric 01-Nov-2009 10:57


The server my php code is running on has sessions disabled so I am forced to store a fair bit of arbitrary data in cookies.  Using array names was impractical and problematic, so I implemented a splitting routine.  I do not serialize any class instances, just arrays and simple objects.





In a nutshell, when setting a cookie value, I serialize it, gzcompress it, base64 encode it, break it into pieces and store it as a set of cookies.  To fetch the cookie value I get the named piece then iterate through piece names rebuilding the base64 data, then reverse the rest of the process.  The only other trick is deleting the pieces correctly.





Sessions are better, but if they are not available this is a viable alternative.  I chose gz over bz for compression because it looked faster with only slightly worse ratios.





Here is a simplified version of my implementation.  This is a good starting point but is not suitable for most uses.  For example, the domain and path are hard coded and no return values are checked for validity.





<?php


define( 'COOKIE_PORTIONS' , '_piece_' );





function clearpieces( $inKey , $inFirst ) {


    $expire = time()-3600;


    


    for ( $index = $inFirst ; array_key_exists( $inKey.COOKIE_PORTIONS.$index , $_COOKIE ) ; $index += 1 ) {


        setcookie( $inKey.COOKIE_PORTIONS.$index , '' , $expire , '/' , '' , 0 );


        unset( $_COOKIE[$inKey.COOKIE_PORTIONS.$index] );


    }


}





function clearcookie( $inKey ) {


    clearpieces( $inKey , 1 );


    setcookie( $inKey , '' , time()-3600 , '/' , '' , 0 );


    unset( $_COOKIE[$inKey] );


}





function storecookie( $inKey , $inValue , $inExpire ) {


    $decode = serialize( $inValue );


    $decode = gzcompress( $decode );


    $decode = base64_encode( $decode );


    


    $split = str_split( $decode , 4000 );//4k pieces


    $count = count( $split );


    


    for ( $index = 0 ; $index < $count ; $index += 1 ) {


        $result = setcookie( ( $index > 0 ) ? $inKey.COOKIE_PORTIONS.$index : $inKey , $split[$index] , $inExpire , '/' , '' , 0 );


    }


    


    clearpieces( $inKey , $count );


}





function fetchcookie( $inKey ) {


    $decode = $_COOKIE[$inKey];


    


    for ( $index = 1 ; array_key_exists( $inKey.COOKIE_PORTIONS.$index , $_COOKIE ) ; $index += 1 ) {


        $decode .= $_COOKIE[$inKey.COOKIE_PORTIONS.$index];


    }


    


    $decode = base64_decode( $decode );


    $decode = gzuncompress( $decode );


    


    return unserialize( $decode );


}


?>

laffen 27-May-2009 01:49


Note that the $_COOKIE variable not will hold multiple cookies with the same name. It is legitimate to set two cookies with the same name to the same host where the sub domain is different. 

<?php

setcookie("testcookie", "value1hostonly", time(), "/", ".example.com", 0, true);

setcookie("testcookie", "value2subdom", time(), "/", "subdom.example.com", 0, true);

?>

The next request from the browser will have both cookies in the $_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE'] variable, but only one of them will be found in the $_COOKIE variable. Requests to subdom.example.com will have both cookies, while browser request to example.com or www.example.com only sends the cookie with the "value1hostonly" value.



<?php

$kaker = explode(";", $_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE']);

foreach($kaker as $val){

    $k = explode("=", $val);

    echo trim($k[0]) . " => " . $k[1];

}



// output

testcookie => value1hostonly

testcookie => value2subdom



?>

isooik at gmail-antispam dot com 26-Feb-2008 05:18


Here's a more advanced version of the php setcookie() alternative function:





<?php





    /**


     * A better alternative (RFC 2109 compatible) to the php setcookie() function


     *


     * @param string Name of the cookie


     * @param string Value of the cookie


     * @param int Lifetime of the cookie


     * @param string Path where the cookie can be used


     * @param string Domain which can read the cookie


     * @param bool Secure mode?


     * @param bool Only allow HTTP usage?


     * @return bool True or false whether the method has successfully run


     */


    function createCookie($name, $value='', $maxage=0, $path='', $domain='', $secure=false, $HTTPOnly=false)


    {


        $ob = ini_get('output_buffering');





        // Abort the method if headers have already been sent, except when output buffering has been enabled


        if ( headers_sent() && (bool) $ob === false || strtolower($ob) == 'off' )


            return false;





        if ( !empty($domain) )


        {


            // Fix the domain to accept domains with and without 'www.'.


            if ( strtolower( substr($domain, 0, 4) ) == 'www.' ) $domain = substr($domain, 4);


            // Add the dot prefix to ensure compatibility with subdomains


            if ( substr($domain, 0, 1) != '.' ) $domain = '.'.$domain;





            // Remove port information.


            $port = strpos($domain, ':');





            if ( $port !== false ) $domain = substr($domain, 0, $port);


        }





        // Prevent "headers already sent" error with utf8 support (BOM)


        //if ( utf8_support ) header('Content-Type: text/html; CHARSET=gb2312');





        header('Set-Cookie: '.rawurlencode($name).'='.rawurlencode($value)


                                    .(empty($domain) ? '' : '; Domain='.$domain)


                                    .(empty($maxage) ? '' : '; Max-Age='.$maxage)


                                    .(empty($path) ? '' : '; Path='.$path)


                                    .(!$secure ? '' : '; Secure')


                                    .(!$HTTPOnly ? '' : '; HttpOnly'), false);


        return true;


    }





?>





Regards,


Isaak

cwillard at fastmail dot fm 22-Aug-2007 07:55


If you're looking to set multiple values in your cookie (rather than setting multiple cookies) you might find these useful.



<?php

function build_cookie($var_array) {

  if (is_array($var_array)) {

    foreach ($var_array as $index => $data) {

      $out.= ($data!="") ? $index."=".$data."|" : "";

    }

  }

  return rtrim($out,"|");

}



function break_cookie ($cookie_string) {

  $array=explode("|",$cookie_string);

  foreach ($array as $i=>$stuff) {

    $stuff=explode("=",$stuff);

    $array[$stuff[0]]=$stuff[1];

    unset($array[$i]);

  }

  return $array;

}

?>

Hopefully someone finds these useful.

bluewaterbob 12-Jul-2007 11:51


if you are having problems seeing cookies sometimes or deleting cookies sometimes, despite following the advice below, make sure you are setting the cookie with the domain argument. Set it with the dot before the domain as the examples show: ".example.com".  I wasn't specifying the domain, and finally realized I was setting the cookie when the browser url had the http://www.example.com and later trying to delete it when the url didn't have the www. ie. http://example.com. This also caused the page to be unable to find the cookie when the www. wasn't in the domain.  (When you add the domain argument to the setcookie code that creates the cookie, make sure you also add it to the code that deletes the cookie.)

jonathan dot bergeron at rve dot ulaval dot ca 24-May-2007 12:05


About the delete part, I found that Firefox only remove the cookie when you submit the same values for all parameters, except the date, which sould be in the past. Submiting blank values didn't work for me.





Example :


- set -





<?php setcookie( "name", "value", "future_timestamp", "path", "domain" ); ?>





- delete -


<?php setcookie( "name", "value", "past_timestamp", "path", "domain" ); ?>





Jonathan

mike 26-Mar-2007 08:00


Be careful of using the same cookie name in subdirectories. Setting a simple cookie 





<?php setcookie("region", $_GET['set_region']); ?>





both in the root / and for instance in this case /admin/ will create 2 cookies with different paths. In reading the cookies back only the first one is read regardless of path.

21-Mar-2007 02:40


if you only want to do something once per unique visitor, you can test if a cookie is set, and if not, set the cookie and perform the action. This being the poorman's version, it has a problem, where if a user is blocking cookies they will appear as a first time visitor each time. What you can do to avoid this is to set a test cookie first and check that it exists. If it exists, then check to see if your second cookie has been set. If the first one is set, but the second isn't, then you know this is a first time visitor.

gabe at fijiwebdesign dot com 25-Feb-2007 07:25


If you want to delete all cookies on your domain, you may want to use the value of:



<?php $_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE'] ?>



rather than:



<?php $_COOKIE ?>



to dertermine the cookie names. 

If cookie names are in Array notation, eg: user[username] 

Then PHP will automatically create a corresponding array in $_COOKIE. Instead use $_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE'] as it mirrors the actual HTTP Request header. 



<?php



// unset cookies

if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE'])) {

    $cookies = explode(';', $_SERVER['HTTP_COOKIE']);

    foreach($cookies as $cookie) {

        $parts = explode('=', $cookie);

        $name = trim($parts[0]);

        setcookie($name, '', time()-1000);

        setcookie($name, '', time()-1000, '/');

    }

}



?>

08-Feb-2007 05:13


something that wasn't made clear to me here and totally confused me for a while was that domain names must contain at least two dots (.), hence 'localhost' is invalid and the browser will refuse to set the cookie! instead for localhost you should use false.



to make your code work on both localhost and a proper domain, you can do this:



<?php



$domain = ($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] != 'localhost') ? $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] : false;

setcookie('cookiename', 'data', time()+60*60*24*365, '/', $domain, false);



?>

ahmetantmen at msn dot com 19-Jan-2007 03:36


You can be sure about the cookie files contents weren't changed.



<?php



$Seperator = '--';

$uniqueID = 'Ju?hG&F0yh9?=/6*GVfd-d8u6f86hp';

$Data = 'Ahmet '.md5('123456789');



setcookie('VerifyUser', $Data.$Seperator.md5($Data.$uniqueID));



if ($_COOKIE) {

   $Cut = explode($Seperator, $_COOKIE['VerifyUser']);

   if (md5($Cut[0].$uniqueID) === $Cut[1]) {

       $_COOKIE['VerifyUser'] = $Cut[0];

   } else {

       die('Cookie data is invalid!!!');

   }

}



echo $_COOKIE['VerifyUser'];



?>



Create a unique id for your site and create a hash with md5($Data.$uniqueID). Attacker can understant that it must be re-hash after change cookie content.

But doesn't. Because cannot guess your unique id. Seperate your hash and data with seperator and send that cookie. Control that hash of returned value and your unique id's is same returned hash. Otherwise you have to stop attack. Sorry for my poor english!

stovenator at gmail dot com 12-Jan-2007 06:54


If you are having issues with IE7 and setcookie(), be sure to verify that the cookie is set via http for http sites, and https for https site. 



Also, if the time is incorrect on your server, IE7 will also disallow those cookies from being set.

paul nospam AT nospam sitepoint dot com 06-Dec-2006 08:59


Note when setting "array cookies" that a separate cookie is set for each element of the array.



On high traffic sites, this can substantially increase the size of subsequent HTTP requests from clients (including requests for static content on the same domain).



More importantly though, the cookie specification says that browsers need only accept 20 cookies per domain.  This limit is increased to 50 by Firefox, and to 30 by Opera, but IE6 and IE7 enforce the limit of 20 cookie per domain.  Any cookies beyond this limit will either knock out an older cookie or be ignored/rejected by the browser.

hansel at gretel dot com 06-Nov-2006 08:12


The following code snippet combines abdullah's and Charles Martin's examples into a powerful combination function (and fixes at least one bug in the process):



<?php

  function set_cookie_fix_domain($Name, $Value = '', $Expires = 0, $Path = '', $Domain = '', $Secure = false, $HTTPOnly = false)

  {

    if (!empty($Domain))

    {

      // Fix the domain to accept domains with and without 'www.'.

      if (strtolower(substr($Domain, 0, 4)) == 'www.')  $Domain = substr($Domain, 4);

      $Domain = '.' . $Domain;



      // Remove port information.

      $Port = strpos($Domain, ':');

      if ($Port !== false)  $Domain = substr($Domain, 0, $Port);

    }



    header('Set-Cookie: ' . rawurlencode($Name) . '=' . rawurlencode($Value)

                          . (empty($Expires) ? '' : '; expires=' . gmdate('D, d-M-Y H:i:s', $Expires) . ' GMT')

                          . (empty($Path) ? '' : '; path=' . $Path)

                          . (empty($Domain) ? '' : '; domain=' . $Domain)

                          . (!$Secure ? '' : '; secure')

                          . (!$HTTPOnly ? '' : '; HttpOnly'), false);

  }

?>



Basically, if the domain parameter is supplied, it is converted to support a broader range of domains.  This behavior may or may not be desireable (e.g. could be a security problem depending on the server) but it makes cookie handling oh-so-much-nicer (IMO).

adruff at gmail dot com 05-Aug-2006 10:14


If you intend to use persistent cookies (vice session cookies that are deleted when the browser is closed) be aware:

1) Firefox appears to require that you include all paramaters, or it will ignore the expiration and treat the cookie as a session cookie

2) My version of firefox (1.5.0.6) defaults to 'keep cookies until i close firefox' , which essentially makes every cookie a session cookie. This of course sucks for devs, but i suppose is supposed to be a security feature for the end user. If the user wants to configure firefox to respect the expiration date and retain cookies beyond the session, the user must change it to 'keep cookies until they expire'.

gareth at gw126 dot com 05-Jun-2006 07:38


You can use cookies to prevent a browser refresh repeating some action from a form post... (providing the client is cookie enabled!)





<?php


//Flag up repeat actions (like credit card transaction, etc)


if(count($_POST)>0) {


    $lastpost= isset($_COOKIE['lastpost']) ? $_COOKIE['lastpost'] : '';


    if($lastpost!=md5(serialize($_POST))) {


        setcookie('lastpost', md5(serialize($_POST)));


        $_POST['_REPEATED']=0;


    } else {


        $_POST['_REPEATED']=1;


    }


}





//At this point, if $_POST['_REPEATED']==1, then  the user


//has hit the refresh button; so don't do any actions that you don't


//want to repeat!


?>





Hope that helps :)





Gareth

Carl V 07-Apr-2005 08:29


If you want to delete all the cookies set by your domain, you may run the following:



<?php

$cookiesSet = array_keys($_COOKIE);

for ($x=0;$x<count($cookiesSet);$x++) setcookie($cookiesSet[$x],"",time()-1);

?>



Very useful when doing logout scripts and the cookie name may have changed (long story).

apex at xepa dot nl 24-Nov-2003 06:59


Note on setting cookies allowing access to sites:





If you are not using something "personal" from the computer that you are sending the cookie too watch out.  Via javascript it is possible to steal cookies from other users.  Thus allowing the stealer to login to your site as another user that might not have access otherwise.  Try to add something like the user's ip in the cookie and allowing access from that ip only with the stored cookie data.





[Editor's note: ... or simply use sessions. You can't be sure that the visitor will use the same IP the next visit. Not even on the next request (thanks to proxy servers)]

J?rg Aldinger 30-Sep-2003 04:13


When using your cookies on a webserver that is not on the standard port 80, you should NOT include the :[port] in the "Cookie domain" parameter, since this would not be recognized correctly.


I had the issue working on a project that runs on multiple servers (development, production, etc.). One of the servers is running on a different port (together with other websites that run on the same server but on different ports).