A cookie is often used to identify a user.
A cookie is often used to identify a user. A cookie is a small file that the server embeds on the user's computer. Each time the same computer requests a page with a browser, it will send the cookie too. With PHP, you can both create and retrieve cookie values.
A cookie is created with the setcookie() function.
Only the name parameter is required. All other parameters are optional.
The following example creates a cookie named "user" with the value "John Doe". The cookie will expire after 30 days (86400 * 30). The "/" means that the cookie is available in entire website (otherwise, select the directory you prefer).
We then retrieve the value of the cookie "user" (using the global variable $_COOKIE). We also use the isset() function to find out if the cookie is set:
Note: The setcookie() function must appear BEFORE the <html> tag. |
Note: The value of the cookie is automatically URLencoded when sending the cookie, and automatically decoded when received (to prevent URLencoding, use setrawcookie() instead).
To modify a cookie, just set (again) the cookie using the setcookie() function:
To delete a cookie, use the setcookie() function with an expiration date in the past:
The following example creates a small script that checks whether cookies are enabled. First, try to create a test cookie with the setcookie() function, then count the $_COOKIE array variable:
For a complete reference of HTTP functions, go to our complete PHP HTTP Reference.