php-doc-en/reference/network/functions/setcookie.xml

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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<refentry xml:id="function.setcookie" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
<refnamediv>
<refname>setcookie</refname>
<refpurpose>Send a cookie</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsect1 role="description">
&reftitle.description;
<methodsynopsis>
<type>bool</type><methodname>setcookie</methodname>
<methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>name</parameter></methodparam>
<methodparam choice="opt"><type>string</type><parameter>value</parameter></methodparam>
<methodparam choice="opt"><type>int</type><parameter>expire</parameter><initializer>0</initializer></methodparam>
<methodparam choice="opt"><type>string</type><parameter>path</parameter></methodparam>
<methodparam choice="opt"><type>string</type><parameter>domain</parameter></methodparam>
<methodparam choice="opt"><type>bool</type><parameter>secure</parameter><initializer>false</initializer></methodparam>
<methodparam choice="opt"><type>bool</type><parameter>httponly</parameter><initializer>false</initializer></methodparam>
</methodsynopsis>
<para>
<function>setcookie</function> defines a cookie to be sent along with the
rest of the HTTP headers. Like other headers, cookies must be sent
<emphasis>before</emphasis> any output from your script (this is a
protocol restriction). This requires that you place calls to this function
prior to any output, including <literal>&lt;html&gt;</literal> and
<literal>&lt;head&gt;</literal> tags as well as any whitespace.
</para>
<para>
Once the cookies have been set, they can be accessed on the next page load
with the <varname>$_COOKIE</varname> or
<varname>$HTTP_COOKIE_VARS</varname> arrays. Note,
<link linkend="language.variables.superglobals">superglobals</link>
such as <varname>$_COOKIE</varname> became available in PHP 4.1.0.
Cookie
values also exist in <varname>$_REQUEST</varname>.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 role="parameters">
&reftitle.parameters;
<para>
All the arguments except the <parameter>name</parameter> argument are
optional. You may also replace an argument with an empty string
(<emphasis>&quot;&quot;</emphasis>) in order to skip that argument.
Because the <parameter>expire</parameter> argument is integer, it cannot
be skipped with an empty string, use a zero (<emphasis>0</emphasis>)
instead.
</para>
<para>
<link xlink:href="&url.rfc;6265">RFC 6265</link> provides the normative
reference on how each <function>setcookie</function> parameter is
interpreted.
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><parameter>name</parameter></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The name of the cookie.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><parameter>value</parameter></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The value of the cookie. This value is stored on the clients computer;
do not store sensitive information. Assuming the
<parameter>name</parameter> is <literal>'cookiename'</literal>, this
value is retrieved through <varname>$_COOKIE['cookiename']</varname>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><parameter>expire</parameter></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The time the cookie expires. This is a Unix timestamp so is
in number of seconds since the epoch. In other words, you'll
most likely set this with the <function>time</function> function
plus the number of seconds before you want it to expire. Or
you might use <function>mktime</function>.
<literal>time()+60*60*24*30</literal> will set the cookie to
expire in 30 days. If set to 0, or omitted, the cookie will expire at
the end of the session (when the browser closes).
</para>
<para>
<note>
<para>
You may notice the <parameter>expire</parameter> parameter takes on a
Unix timestamp, as opposed to the date format <literal>Wdy, DD-Mon-YYYY
HH:MM:SS GMT</literal>, this is because PHP does this conversion
internally.
</para>
</note>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><parameter>path</parameter></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The path on the server in which the cookie will be available on.
If set to <literal>'/'</literal>, the cookie will be available
within the entire <parameter>domain</parameter>. If set to
<literal>'/foo/'</literal>, the cookie will only be available
within the <literal>/foo/</literal> directory and all
sub-directories such as <literal>/foo/bar/</literal> of
<parameter>domain</parameter>. The default value is the
current directory that the cookie is being set in.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><parameter>domain</parameter></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The domain that the cookie is available to. Setting the domain to
<literal>'www.example.com'</literal> will make the cookie
available in the <literal>www</literal> subdomain and higher subdomains.
Cookies available to a lower domain, such as
<literal>'example.com'</literal> will be available to higher subdomains,
such as <literal>'www.example.com'</literal>.
Older browsers still implementing the deprecated
<link xlink:href="&url.rfc;2109">RFC 2109</link> may require a leading
<literal>.</literal> to match all subdomains.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><parameter>secure</parameter></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Indicates that the cookie should only be transmitted over a
secure HTTPS connection from the client. When set to &true;, the
cookie will only be set if a secure connection exists.
On the server-side, it's on the programmer to send this
kind of cookie only on secure connection (e.g. with respect to
<varname>$_SERVER["HTTPS"]</varname>).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><parameter>httponly</parameter></term>
<listitem>
<para>
When &true; the cookie will be made accessible only through the HTTP
protocol. This means that the cookie won't be accessible by
scripting languages, such as JavaScript. It has been suggested that
this setting can effectively help to reduce identity theft through
XSS attacks (although it is not supported by all browsers), but that
claim is often disputed. Added in PHP 5.2.0.
&true; or &false;
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 role="returnvalues">
&reftitle.returnvalues;
<para>
If output exists prior to calling this function,
<function>setcookie</function> will fail and return &false;. If
<function>setcookie</function> successfully runs, it will return &true;.
This does not indicate whether the user accepted the cookie.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 role="examples">
&reftitle.examples;
<para>
Some examples follow how to send cookies:
<example>
<title><function>setcookie</function> send example</title>
<programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$value = 'something from somewhere';
setcookie("TestCookie", $value);
setcookie("TestCookie", $value, time()+3600); /* expire in 1 hour */
setcookie("TestCookie", $value, time()+3600, "/~rasmus/", "example.com", 1);
?>
]]>
</programlisting>
</example>
</para>
<para>
Note that the value portion of the cookie will automatically be
urlencoded when you send the cookie, and when it is received, it
is automatically decoded and assigned to a variable by the same
name as the cookie name. If you don't want this, you can use
<function>setrawcookie</function> instead if you are using PHP 5. To see
the contents of our test cookie in a script, simply use one of the
following examples:
</para>
<para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
// Print an individual cookie
echo $_COOKIE["TestCookie"];
echo $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS["TestCookie"];
// Another way to debug/test is to view all cookies
print_r($_COOKIE);
?>
]]>
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
</para>
<para>
<example>
<title><function>setcookie</function> delete example</title>
<para>
When deleting a cookie you should assure that the expiration date
is in the past, to trigger the removal mechanism in your browser.
Examples follow how to delete cookies sent in previous example:
</para>
<programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
// set the expiration date to one hour ago
setcookie ("TestCookie", "", time() - 3600);
setcookie ("TestCookie", "", time() - 3600, "/~rasmus/", "example.com", 1);
?>
]]>
</programlisting>
</example>
</para>
<para>
<example>
<title><function>setcookie</function> and arrays</title>
<para>
You may also set array cookies by using array notation in the
cookie name. This has the effect of setting as many cookies as
you have array elements, but when the cookie is received by your
script, the values are all placed in an array with the cookie's
name:
</para>
<programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
// set the cookies
setcookie("cookie[three]", "cookiethree");
setcookie("cookie[two]", "cookietwo");
setcookie("cookie[one]", "cookieone");
// after the page reloads, print them out
if (isset($_COOKIE['cookie'])) {
foreach ($_COOKIE['cookie'] as $name => $value) {
$name = htmlspecialchars($name);
$value = htmlspecialchars($value);
echo "$name : $value <br />\n";
}
}
?>
]]>
</programlisting>
&example.outputs;
<screen>
<![CDATA[
three : cookiethree
two : cookietwo
one : cookieone
]]>
</screen>
</example>
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 role="changelog">
&reftitle.changelog;
<para>
<informaltable>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>&Version;</entry>
<entry>&Description;</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>5.2.0</entry>
<entry>
The <parameter>httponly</parameter> parameter was added.
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 role="notes">
&reftitle.notes;
<note>
<para>
You can use output buffering to send output prior to the
call of this function, with the overhead of all of your output to the
browser being buffered in the server until you send it. You can do this
by calling <function>ob_start</function> and
<function>ob_end_flush</function> in your script, or setting the
<literal>output_buffering</literal> configuration directive on in your
&php.ini; or server configuration files.
</para>
</note>
<note>
<para>
If the PHP directive <link linkend="ini.register-globals">register_globals</link>
is set to <literal>on</literal> then cookie values will also be made into
variables. In our examples below, <varname>$TestCookie</varname> will
exist. It's recommended to use <varname>$_COOKIE</varname>.
</para>
</note>
<para>
Common Pitfalls:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<simpara>
Cookies will not become visible until the next loading of a page that
the cookie should be visible for. To test if a cookie was successfully
set, check for the cookie on a next loading page before the cookie
expires. Expire time is set via the <parameter>expire</parameter>
parameter. A nice way to debug the existence of cookies is by
simply calling <literal>print_r($_COOKIE);</literal>.
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
Cookies must be deleted with the same parameters as they were set with.
If the value argument is an empty string, or &false;, and all other arguments
match a previous call to setcookie, then the cookie with the specified
name will be deleted from the remote client.
This is internally achieved by setting value to 'deleted' and expiration
time to one year in past.
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
Because setting a cookie with a value of &false; will try to delete the cookie,
you should not use boolean values. Instead, use <emphasis>0</emphasis> for &false;
and <emphasis>1</emphasis> for &true;.
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
Cookies names can be set as array names and will be available to your
PHP scripts as arrays but separate cookies are stored on the user's
system. Consider <function>explode</function> to set one cookie with
multiple names and values. It is not recommended to use
<function>serialize</function> for this purpose, because it can result
in security holes.
</simpara>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<simpara>
Multiple calls to <function>setcookie</function> are performed in the order called.
</simpara>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 role="seealso">
&reftitle.seealso;
<para>
<simplelist>
<member><function>header</function></member>
<member><function>setrawcookie</function></member>
<member><link linkend="features.cookies">cookies section</link></member>
<member><link xlink:href="&url.rfc;6265">RFC 6265</link></member>
<member><link xlink:href="&url.rfc;2109">RFC 2109</link></member>
</simplelist>
</para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
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