Can't retrieve certain cookies with PHP - php

I've got to be missing something simple, but this is driving me batty.
I'm setting a whole bunch of array cookies, like so:
setcookie("adjusted[$title]", $title, time() + 3600, "/", ".domain.com");
This works just fine, the cookies are being set and I can see them in the browser's cookie list.
However, I can't seem to read only certain values back out! I have no idea why. For example, I set this cookie:
adjusted[calldelivernow.net]
and I can see that is its name in Firefox's cookies page, the content is "calldelivernow.net". But all attempts to do this return false:
if(isset($_COOKIE["adjusted"]["calldelivernow.net"]))
die("Cookie is set");
This is just one example of many, all under identical parameters just with different domain names. What on earth am I missing here? How can a cookie plainly exist in the browser, yet PHP not be able to read it?

Because you're not calling it by it's name correctly. Unlike form names, cookies do not get stacked to arrays.
Try $_COOKIE["adjusted[calldelivernow.net]"].

The problem appears to be that cookie names, cannot contain periods! Strangely, Firefox is in fact showing that the cookie name is correct and contains the period, but the $_COOKIE array replaces the period with an underscore, like so: ["calldelivernow_net"]=> string(4) "test"

Related

Setting cookies with $_SERVER info

I'm trying to set a cookie which tracks what page the user is on, so that I can forward this in a websocket header, however when I do this:
setcookie("PAGE", $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], 0, "/");
Which should be setting a cookie to something like %2FCommission%2F1 (/Commission/1), creates the cookie, which shows in firefox developer tools for a split second, then disappears (it doesn't show at all in chrome developer tools).
But if I manually set the cookie value as such:
setcookie("PAGE", "%2FCommission%2F1", 0, "/");
The cookie works perfectly fine.
I have tried trimming $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], along with replacing potentially problematic parts, but nothing seems to work, if $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] is used in any capacity in the creation of the string passed into the cookie value, I get this behaviour. Am I missing something?

why is my cookie not set , is it my localhost? [duplicate]

I have a cookie that will not set on the remote server, works find locally. No error messages, var_dump gets me Null, echo is blank.
<php
setcookie('ymp','14', time()+3600);
session_start();
?>
I can set a javascript cookie fine. The opening tag is line 1 of the page.
Any ideas
Thanks
Gary
On Edit
I have some comments I posted below, it is a 3 file process.
Page one is to set the cookie, as above.
Page two I have for debugging
<php var_dump($_COOKIE['ymp']); echo'<br />'.$_COOKIE['ymp'];?>
Page 3, and again this all worked locally I have
<?php
if($_COOKIE['ymp']!=='14')
{die('Sorry, you have not had your delightful little pastry yet.... try again.');}
?>
I set a js cookie, and changed the code to reflect the different cookie name and it worked fine.
I also reset the time to +86400, because of the two hour time difference to the server, though I don't think that is really required.
Thanks for all the help
Gary
You can't read the value of a cookie until a new page request is made. This is because the value of cookie data is sent with the page request. So it isn't available for to access its value until after it is set and a new page request is made.
Also, session_start() has no effect on cookies. They are two different things. (Sessions do typically use cookies to store the session ID but that is irrelevant).
This is rather peculiar - I assume this could have something to do with PHP configuration.
See what the return value of setcookie function is - it may be FALSE if output has been already sent before the function call. You did mention it is right at the start of your script, however there could be other entities outputting data (pre-executed scripts on the server perhaps?)
It's also possible that your browser is set to not accept cookies from certain domain - check your configuration.
Please provide any other relevant code and indicate how you check if cookies are set.
This problem never did solve, I ended up writing a new file to a different domain on the same host, gave the cookie a different name and value (is it possible that a 3 character name cookie with a 2 digit value too small??) and it worked as supposed expected.
Thank you all for your help... too busy to do a CSI investigation as to the how's and whys.
Gary
It could be because you don't specify a path and/or a domain for the cookie. Try this instead:
<?php
setcookie('ymp','14', time()+3600, '/', 'yourdomain.com')
?>

Cookie does not set

I have a cookie that will not set on the remote server, works find locally. No error messages, var_dump gets me Null, echo is blank.
<php
setcookie('ymp','14', time()+3600);
session_start();
?>
I can set a javascript cookie fine. The opening tag is line 1 of the page.
Any ideas
Thanks
Gary
On Edit
I have some comments I posted below, it is a 3 file process.
Page one is to set the cookie, as above.
Page two I have for debugging
<php var_dump($_COOKIE['ymp']); echo'<br />'.$_COOKIE['ymp'];?>
Page 3, and again this all worked locally I have
<?php
if($_COOKIE['ymp']!=='14')
{die('Sorry, you have not had your delightful little pastry yet.... try again.');}
?>
I set a js cookie, and changed the code to reflect the different cookie name and it worked fine.
I also reset the time to +86400, because of the two hour time difference to the server, though I don't think that is really required.
Thanks for all the help
Gary
You can't read the value of a cookie until a new page request is made. This is because the value of cookie data is sent with the page request. So it isn't available for to access its value until after it is set and a new page request is made.
Also, session_start() has no effect on cookies. They are two different things. (Sessions do typically use cookies to store the session ID but that is irrelevant).
This is rather peculiar - I assume this could have something to do with PHP configuration.
See what the return value of setcookie function is - it may be FALSE if output has been already sent before the function call. You did mention it is right at the start of your script, however there could be other entities outputting data (pre-executed scripts on the server perhaps?)
It's also possible that your browser is set to not accept cookies from certain domain - check your configuration.
Please provide any other relevant code and indicate how you check if cookies are set.
This problem never did solve, I ended up writing a new file to a different domain on the same host, gave the cookie a different name and value (is it possible that a 3 character name cookie with a 2 digit value too small??) and it worked as supposed expected.
Thank you all for your help... too busy to do a CSI investigation as to the how's and whys.
Gary
It could be because you don't specify a path and/or a domain for the cookie. Try this instead:
<?php
setcookie('ymp','14', time()+3600, '/', 'yourdomain.com')
?>

PHP setting a cookie not 100%

so i need a cookie set for 21 days on a browser when a user hits the site and everytime the user returns in that 21 day period i need to retrieve that value
if($_REQUEST['ref'] == "something"){
setcookie('something_value', "something" ,time()+60*60*24*21,'/','mydomain.com');
}
in the view
<?php if(isset($_COOKIE['something'])) { ?>
but when i view the cookies in safari and firefox i dont see "something"
am I missing something
Looks like you've swapped the first two parameters of setcookie. The first parameter should be the name of the cookie.
// prefix the mydomain.com with a . (makes it work on more browsers)
setcookie('something_value', "something" ,time()+60*60*24*21,'/','.mydomain.com');
I've also had that problem and putting a . in front of the domain name made wonders for me.
Do not view cookies in safari and firefox. Cookie is an HTTP header and nothing else. Do not rely on inner browser's mechanism. But rely on HTTP log only. Do you see your cookie in HTTP log?
what is it's name? "something_value"? Don't you mess something? ;)

what could some of the reason be to why a cookie wont be destroyed?

i have a cookie named MVCID that's set and its value is some generated hash.
when i write this
setcookie("MVCID","", time()-60*60*24);
and load the page, not only is the contents of the cookie not being erased but it also isn't dying.
what can be the possible problem? this isnt the first time this is happening.
ps: im also trying this on an empty page with no other code but this and it still wont die.
Try passing "/" as the fourth parameter -- path.
Are you calling this function before outputting any HTML? That's a known foible of the call since cookies have to appear in the HTTP header.
You might want to also check the time on the client side. Even though you're setting to expire one day ago, it's possible that the clock skew might be greater (if times aren't set correctly).
And I prefer to populate all parameters rather than relying on defaults (which can change based on many things).
In addition, you may want to check the return code although I have no idea how it could fail, something like:
<?php
$ret = setcookie("MVCID","", time()-60*60*24);
?>
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
Hello<br>
<pre>
<?php
print_r ($ret);
?>
</pre>
</body>
</html>
Failing that, you may need to have a look at what's going on at the wire level. In other words, examine the HTTP response to ensure there's a Set-Cookie in the HTTP headers and examine the actual values being passed along with it.
And one last trick to try: delete the cookie totally and exit from the browser (some of them cache in memory). Then try again. If the PHP setcookie is not working then no cookie will be created - the one you have that's not being changed or expired may be left over from a previous successful variant of your code.
Use something like firebug or fiddler to examine the actual response headers (both, the one containing the "real" cookie and the one containing the "delete" cookie)

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