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PHP - Cookies: Assistant Prof. Dr. Rafah M. Almuttairi

PHP allows servers to set and access cookies stored in a user's browser. There are three main steps: 1. The server sends a set of cookies to the browser during an HTTP request. Cookies contain name-value pairs and expiration dates. 2. The browser stores the cookies locally for future requests to the same server. 3. On subsequent requests, the browser sends the cookies back to the server, allowing the server to identify the user based on the cookie data. Common PHP functions for working with cookies include setcookie() for setting cookies, $_COOKIE for accessing cookie values, and setting expiration dates in the past to delete cookies. Cookies are commonly used to maintain session and user identity

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Zain Alabeeden Alareji
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58 views

PHP - Cookies: Assistant Prof. Dr. Rafah M. Almuttairi

PHP allows servers to set and access cookies stored in a user's browser. There are three main steps: 1. The server sends a set of cookies to the browser during an HTTP request. Cookies contain name-value pairs and expiration dates. 2. The browser stores the cookies locally for future requests to the same server. 3. On subsequent requests, the browser sends the cookies back to the server, allowing the server to identify the user based on the cookie data. Common PHP functions for working with cookies include setcookie() for setting cookies, $_COOKIE for accessing cookie values, and setting expiration dates in the past to delete cookies. Cookies are commonly used to maintain session and user identity

Uploaded by

Zain Alabeeden Alareji
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PHP – Cookies

Assistant Prof. Dr. Rafah M. Almuttairi


PHP - Cookies
Cookies are text files stored on the client computer and they
are kept of use tracking purpose. PHP transparently
supports HTTP cookies.
There are three steps involved in identifying returning users:
• Server script sends a set of cookies to the browser. For
example name, age, or identification number etc.
• Browser stores this information on local machine for future
use.
• When next time browser sends any request to web server
then it sends those cookies information to the server and
server uses that information to identify the user.
• This lecture teaches you how to set cookies, how to access
them and how to delete them.
The Anatomy of a Cookie

• Cookies are usually set in an HTTP header


(although JavaScript can also set a cookie directly
on a browser). As you can see, the Set-Cookie
header contains a name value pair, a date, a path
and a domain.
• The name and value will be URL encoded. The
expires field is an instruction to the browser to
"forget" the cookie after the given time and date.
• A PHP script that sets a cookie might send
headers that look something like this :
• If the browser is configured to store cookies, it will
then keep this information until the expiry date. If the
user points the browser at any page that matches the
path and domain of the cookie, it will resend the
cookie to the server.
• A PHP script will then have access to the cookie in the
environmental variables $_COOKIE or
$HTTP_COOKIE_VARS[] which holds all cookie names
and values.
• Above cookie can be accessed using
$HTTP_COOKIE_VARS["name"]. The browser's headers
might look something like this :
Setting Cookies with PHP

• PHP provided setcookie() function to set a


cookie. This function requires upto six
arguments and should be called before <html>
tag. For each cookie this function has to be
called separately.
setcookie(name, value, expire, path, domain, security);
• Here is the detail of all the arguments −
• Name − This sets the name of the cookie and is stored
in an environment variable called HTTP_COOKIE_VARS.
This variable is used while accessing cookies.
• Value − This sets the value of the named variable and is
the content that you actually want to store.
• Expiry − This specify a future time in seconds since
00:00:00 GMT on 1st Jan 1970. After this time cookie
will become inaccessible. If this parameter is not set
then cookie will automatically expire when the Web
Browser is closed.
• Path − This specifies the directories for which the
cookie is valid. A single forward slash character
permits the cookie to be valid for all directories.
• Domain − This can be used to specify the domain
name in very large domains and must contain at
least two periods to be valid. All cookies are only
valid for the host and domain which created
them.
• Security − This can be set to 1 to specify that the
cookie should only be sent by secure
transmission using HTTPS otherwise set to 0
which mean cookie can be sent by regular HTTP.
Following example will create two cookies name and
age these cookies will be expired after one hour.
Accessing Cookies with PHP

• PHP provides many ways to access cookies.


Simplest way is to use either $_COOKIE or
$HTTP_COOKIE_VARS variables. Following
example will access all the cookies set in
above example.
You can use isset() function to check if a cookie
is set or not.
Deleting Cookie with PHP

• Officially, to delete a cookie you should call


setcookie() with the name argument only but
this does not always work well, however, and
should not be relied on.
• It is safest to set the cookie with a date that
has already expired

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