Where the php cookies are stored? - php

php manual has setcookies syntax like this
setcookie ($name, $value, $expire, $path, $domain, $secure, $httponly)
It is said that cookies are stored on the remotely in client side. The syntax has path var that if applied cookies will be stored on the server side.
Now suppose if I mention that path var "/". And on user named denish log in and I create a cookie for username for remember me functionality
setcookie('site_username','denish',time + 3600,'/','.xyz.com')
Now each time the different user logs in. Would it over write the previous cookie or new cookie will be created?
What if I want to create a cookie client side and also want to apply $domain var. Is it possible?


Cookies are always stored in the client. The path only sets restrictions to what remote pages can access said cookies. For example, if you set a cookie with the path "/foo/" then only pages in the directory "/foo/" and subdirectories of "/foo/" can read the cookie.
The domain does the same restriction, only with subdomains.
Cookies with the same name will overwrite each other, yes.
I believe you cannot set a cookie to another domain other than the page you're on due to security issues.


You're incorrect as to the use of the path argument from the manual:
The path on the server in which the cookie will be available on.
Cookies are always stored on the client's machine.


If you use different $paths you can have two cookies with the same name.
setcookie("foobar", "root", time()+3600, "/");
setcookie("foobar", "test", time()+3600, "/test");
The first cookie (root) can be accessed using any $path in this domain, except for /test/*. In /test/* only the second cookie can be accessed. Both cookies are stored by the user's browser and the browser decides which cookie to provide based on which cookie's $path matches the current URL.

Related

the cookie disappear when I change page

(PHP) I set the cookie in my login.php page in this way:
setcookie('cookie_id',$id);
I print the cookie and I see the correct value but when I change page with:
header($login_url);
I lose the all cookie and I don't know why. Anybody can help me?

You have to specify / as path in setcookie() function, so cookie will be available on every path of your site. To do this:
setcookie('cookie_id', $id, 0, '/');
Note that third argument is expire time which is set to 0 as default. According to documentation it means that:
If set to 0, or omitted, the cookie will expire at the end of the session (when the browser closes).

If you have human urls or subfolders (like www.domain.com/path1/path2/), then you must set cookie path to / to work for all paths, not just current one.
setcookie('cookie_id', $cookie_id, time() + 60*60*24*30, '/');
From PHP manual:
The path on the server in which the cookie will be available on. If set to '/', the cookie will be available within the entire domain . If set to '/foo/', the cookie will only be available within the /foo/ directory and all sub-directories such as /foo/bar/ of domain . The default value is the current directory that the cookie is being set in.

How to read cookie from subdomain in PHP?

Can anyone tell me how to read cookie from subdomain. I can set the cookie for subdomain but unable to read it.
Please tell me what is the syntax in PHP to read cookie from subdomain.

If you're enabled to read in other subdomain, it's probably because you didn't properly set the cookie to begin with.
$date_of_expiry=time()+ 3600;
setcookie( "cookie_name", "cookie_value", $date_of_expiry, "/", "example.com" );
It's important that you put the last argument for the cookie to be available in other subdomains.
Also, the cookies must be set before page output.

Changed cookie domain, but old cookie is still used

EDITED, look at the end
I got a Symfony 1.2 project, that was running on two domains (different app used on each domain) : www.mywebsite.com and abonnement.mywebsite.com
I had two different cookie name/domain in each app.
We decided to use the same cookie for both apps. So, i edited the config for both apps and set the cookie_domain to .mywebsite.com, and setted the cookie_name to mywebsite_cookie in boths apps.
The problem is that when I visit abonnement.mywebsite.com, the old cookie is used. Manually deleting this cookie in my browser fixes the problem, but there are thousands of users on this website and I'm wondering if there's a solution to manually delete this cookie.
I tried :
if (isset($_COOKIE['abonnement_cookie'])) {
ini_set('session.cookie_domain', 'abonnement.mywebsite.com);
setcookie('abonnement_cookie', '', time() - 3600, '/');
$this->redirect('#internet_etape_1');
}
But no success.
Is there a way to do it?
I'm using Firefox 9.0.1
Thanks!
Edit:
I found the problem, cookie was created with "host" and not "domain".
To use the current host, you need to specify '' as domain :
setcookie('abonnement_cookie', 0, time() - 3600, '/', '');
Hope this helps!

You need to match the domain and path that which was used to create the cookie when destroying the cookie. This is because as you have discovered, it is possible to have a cookie with the same name and different scopes for the same domain. When destroying the cookie, you must match the scope that was used to create it, so the client knows which one to destroy.
Try:
setcookie('abonnement_cookie', '', time() - 3600, '/', 'abonnement.mywebsite.com');

How to Display Cookies?

I have setted some cookies in example.com/place1. When I iterate over $_COOKIE... it displays all cookies for my domain. Even those that are setted in example.com/place2. Is it possible to display cookies that are setted only in example.com/place1/*?

You'll want to set the path in which the cookie is available when you're sending it to the client. For example, on example.com/place1, set the cookie like this:
setcookie($name, $value, 0, '/place1/');
That way, the cookie will only be available inside example.com/place1/*.

Cookies not working on different pages

Ok I have a cookie set, and I can clearly see it if I go to private data in Firefox... ok so when I echo it on one page in a certain directory it works, (www.example.com/dir), but on the index page of the site (www.example.com), it wont echo, it says the cookie is not set. Yes I have cookies enabled, yes I tried clearing cache and all that. Any ideas? PHP btw

Which directory are you in when the cookie gets set?
From the PHP manual on setcookie(), emphasis mine:
Path
The path on the server in which the cookie will be available on. If set to '/', the cookie will be available within the entire domain . If set to '/foo/', the cookie will only be available within the /foo/ directory and all sub-directories such as /foo/bar/ of domain . The default value is the current directory that the cookie is being set in.

Cookies can be bound to a specific domain, subdomain, path, and protocol (http/https). You need to specify the path when setting the cookie in PHP:
setcookie("TestCookie", "Value", time()+3600 , '/' );
The fourth parameter binds it to the root of the site and it will be available in any subdirectory of the main site.
If you want it available on the main domain and any subdomain, supply the fifth parameter like this:
setcookie("TestCookie", "Value", time()+3600 , '/', '.example.com' );
Now it will be readable at:
www.example.com
example.com/newdir
awesome.example.com/newdir

You need to check the path that the cookie is being set.
If it's not '/', there's your answer!

Yes try this, I was also facing this problem but resolved by below code.
setcookie("TestCookie", "Value", time()+3600 , '/' );

Set your path option; the default value is the current directory that the cookie is being set in. Because you're setting the cookie in the directory /dir , its only available within that directory or below it.
You get around this by explicitly setting the path, ie.
setcookie(name,value,expire,path,domain,secure)
Set the path to "/".

setcookie("Cookie_name", "Cookie_Value", time()+3600 , '/' );
fourth parameter ('/') will make your cookies accessible to pages in parent directories.

You need to set the $path to / in setcookie(), if you want to access it in all directories

Cookies Must Be Set Before Page Output !!!
Since cookies are sent by the script to the browser in the HTTP headers, before your page is sent, they must be set before you even send a single line of HTML or any other page output. The moment you send any sort of output, you are signalling the end of the HTTP headers. When that happens, you can no longer set any cookie. If you try, the setcookie() function will return FALSE, and the cookie will not be sent.

setcookie('cookie_username', $cookie_username, time() + (86400 * 30), "/"); // 86400 = 1 day, '/' denotes cookie available in entire directory.
and in another page:
$username = $_COOKIE['cookie_username'];
also make sure that browser is not blocking cookies.
If you want to use cookies in sub domain also:
setcookie('cookie_username', $cookie_username, time() + (86400 * 30), "/", ".subdomain.com"); // 86400 = 1 day, '/' denotes cookie available in entire directory.

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