Removing a value from a cookie array - php

Question

I am trying to remove a value from a cookie array:-
if (!empty($_GET['job_unfav'])) {
$value_to_delete = $_GET['job_fav']; // Cookie value to delete from array
$favouriteIDs = explode('|', $_COOKIE['job_fav']);
var_dump($favouriteIDs);
unset($favouriteIDs[$value_to_delete]);
$favouriteIDs = array_values($favouriteIDs);
setcookie('job_fav', implode('|', $favouriteIDs));
}
$favouriteIDs returns:-
array(90) {
[0]=> string(3) "542"
[1]=> string(0) ""
[2]=> string(3) "538"
[3]=> string(0) ""
[4]=> string(3) "534"
[5]=> string(0) ""
[6]=> string(3) "524"
[7]=> string(0) ""
[8]=> string(3) "516"
[9]=> string(9) "undefined"
[10]=> string(9) "undefined"
[11]=> string(9) "undefined"
[12]=> string(3) "468"
[13]=> string(0) ""
[14]=> string(0) ""
[15]=> string(0) "" [16]=> string(0) "" [17]=> string(0) "" [18]=> string(0) "" [19]=> string(0) "" [20]=> string(0) "" [21]=> string(0) "" [22]=> string(3) "468" [23]=> string(0) "" [24]=> string(3) "235" [25]=> string(3) "231" [26]=> string(0) "" [27]=> string(0) "" [28]=> string(0) "" [29]=> string(3) "235" [30]=> string(3) "231" [31]=> string(3) "228" [32]=> string(0) "" [33]=> string(0) "" [34]=> string(0) "" [35]=> string(0) "" [36]=> string(3) "235" [37]=> string(3) "231" [38]=> string(0) "" [39]=> string(0) "" [40]=> string(0) "" [41]=> string(3) "231" [42]=> string(3) "228" [43]=> string(3) "225" [44]=> string(0) "" [45]=> string(0) "" [46]=> string(0) "" [47]=> string(0) "" [48]=> string(3) "235" [49]=> string(0) "" [50]=> string(0) "" [51]=> string(0) "" [52]=> string(0) "" [53]=> string(0) "" [54]=> string(0) "" [55]=> string(3) "235" [56]=> string(3) "235" [57]=> string(0) "" [58]=> string(3) "235" [59]=> string(0) "" [60]=> string(0) "" [61]=> string(3) "235" [62]=> string(0) "" [63]=> string(0) "" [64]=> string(0) "" [65]=> string(9) "undefined" [66]=> string(0) "" [67]=> string(9) "undefined" [68]=> string(0) "" [69]=> string(3) "502" [70]=> string(0) "" [71]=> string(0) "" [72]=> string(0) "" [73]=> string(0) "" [74]=> string(0) "" [75]=> string(0) "" [76]=> string(0) "" [77]=> string(0) "" [78]=> string(0) "" [79]=> string(0) "" [80]=> string(0) "" [81]=> string(0) "" [82]=> string(0) "" [83]=> string(0) "" [84]=> string(0) "" [85]=> string(0) "" [86]=> string(0) "" [87]=> string(0) "" [88]=> string(0) "" [89]=> string(3) "514" }
At the moment this isn't removing anything, any idea how to do this?
i.e. I would like to remove all occurences of '542' from job_fav cookie but keep all other values

Answer 1

Here is a simple method using the array_search() function.
<?php
$favoriteIds = array("542", "","538", "", "534", "", "524" );
$value_to_delete = '542'; //$_GET['job_fav']
$idx = array_search($value_to_delete, $favoriteIds);
if ( $idx !== FALSE ) {
//if the value was found
unset($favoriteIds[$idx]);
}
print_r($favoriteIds);
The results would be
Array
(
[1] =>
[2] => 538
[3] =>
[4] => 534
[5] =>
[6] => 524
)

Answer 2

In your code your correctly remove the value you want from the array.
But,
In order to override the cookie you already have (so the value you remove is actually removed by exchanging the cookie) you need to add more params to the setcookie php function call you make:
From the docs:
bool setcookie ( string $name [, string $value [, int $expire = 0 [, string $path [, string $domain [, bool $secure = false [, bool $httponly = false ]]]]]] )
Make sure the params:
path
domain
Are equal than the cookie you already have, otherwise you will just create another one or the setcookie will be ignored.
Then the expire field (which can be left as 0 if the cookie does not expire) must be set with the current timestamp, you can get using the time() function plus, the number of seconds you want the cookie to be active:
$expire = time() + NUMBER_OF_SECONDS
I hope this helps.