This site is mobile accessible. Press the "Tap Here" button to use a different font-size.

Smartphone icons created by Freepik - Flaticon

6.7 PHP Cookies

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.

Create Cookies With PHP

A cookie is created with the setcookie() function.

Syntax

setcookie(name, value, expire, path, domain, secure, httponly);

Only the name parameter is required. All other parameters are optional.

PHP Create/Retrieve a Cookie

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:

Example 1: PHP Create/Retrieve a Cookie

<?php
$cookie_name = "user";
$cookie_value = "John Doe";
setcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_value, time() + (86400 * 30), "/"); // 86400 = 1 day
?>
<html>
<body>

<?php
if(!isset($_COOKIE[$cookie_name])) {
  echo "Cookie named '" . $cookie_name . "' is not set!";
} else {
  echo "Cookie '" . $cookie_name . "' is set!<br>";
  echo "Value is: " . $_COOKIE[$cookie_name];
}
?>

</body>
</html>

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).

Modify a Cookie Value

To modify a cookie, just set (again) the cookie using the setcookie() function:

Example 2: PHP Cookies - Modify a Cookie Value

<?php
$cookie_name = "user";
$cookie_value = "Alex Porter";
setcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_value, time() + (86400 * 30), "/");
?>
<html>
<body>

<?php
if(!isset($_COOKIE[$cookie_name])) {
  echo "Cookie named '" . $cookie_name . "' is not set!";
} else {
  echo "Cookie '" . $cookie_name . "' is set!<br>";
  echo "Value is: " . $_COOKIE[$cookie_name];
}
?>

</body>
</html>

Delete a Cookie

To delete a cookie, use the setcookie() function with an expiration date in the past:

Example 3: PHP Cookies - Delete a Cookie

<?php
// set the expiration date to one hour ago
setcookie("user", "", time() - 3600);
?>
<html>
<body>

<?php
echo "Cookie 'user' is deleted.";
?>

</body>
</html>

Check if Cookies are Enabled

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:

Example 3: PHP Cookies - Check if Cookies are Enabled

<?php
setcookie("test_cookie", "test", time() + 3600, '/');
?>
<html>
<body>

<?php
if(count($_COOKIE) > 0) {
  echo "Cookies are enabled.";
} else {
  echo "Cookies are disabled.";
}
?>

</body>
</html>

Complete PHP Filesystem Reference

For a complete reference of filesystem functions, go to W3Schools.com complete PHP Filesystem Reference.

PHP Fundamentals course home
Module 6. PHP Advanced

Navigate this module

Eventually the navigation links, above, will be replaced by these << (previous) and >> (next) buttons below.

Animated PHP icons used in the buttons provided by ICONS8.COM. Smartphone icons created by Freepik - Flaticon

Module 6 quiz

Example files created in this module:
The PHP Date() Function - Get a Date The PHP Date() Function - Automatic Copyright Year The PHP Date() Function - Get a Time The PHP Date() Function - Get Your Time Zone The PHP Date() Function - Create a Date With mktime() The PHP Date() Function - Create a Date From a String With strtotime() part 1 The PHP Date() Function - Create a Date From a String With strtotime()part 2 The PHP Date() Function - Create Dates From Strings With strtotime() The PHP Date() Function - Count The Number of Days To July 4 With strtotime() PHP Include Files - PHP include Example part 1 PHP Include Files - PHP include Example part 2 PHP Include Files - PHP include Example part 3 PHP Include Files - PHP include Example part 4 PHP Include Files - PHP require Example readfile() fopen() fgets() feof() fgetc() PHP File Handling - PHP readfile() Function PHP File Open/Read - PHP Open File - fopen() PHP File Open/Read - fgets() Read Single Line PHP File Open/Read - feof() Check End-Of-File PHP File Open/Read - fgetc() Read Single Character PHP File Upload PHP Cookies - Create/Retrieve a Cookie PHP Cookies - Modify a Cookie Value PHP Cookies - Delete a Cookie PHP Cookies - Check if Cookies are Enabled PHP Sessions - Start a PHP Session PHP Sessions - Get PHP Session Variable Values part 1 PHP Sessions - Get PHP Session Variable Values part 2 PHP Sessions - Modify a PHP Session Variable PHP Sessions - Destroy a PHP Session PHP Filters - The PHP Filter Extension PHP Filters - Sanitize a String PHP Filters - Validate an Integer PHP Filters - filter_var() and Problem With 0 PHP Filters - Validate an IP Address PHP Filters - Sanitize and Validate an Email Address PHP Filters - Sanitize and Validate a URL PHP Filters Advanced - Validate an Integer Within a Range PHP Filters Advanced - Validate IPv6 Address PHP Filters Advanced - Validate URL That Must Contain QueryString PHP Filters Advanced - Remove Characters With ASCII Value > 127 PHP Callback Functions PHP Callback Functions - Anonymous Function PHP Callback Functions - Callbacks in User Defined Functions PHP and JSON - json_encode() part 1 PHP and JSON - json_encode() part 2 PHP and JSON - json_decode() part 1 PHP and JSON - json_decode() part 2 PHP and JSON - Accessing the Decoded Values part 1 PHP and JSON - Accessing the Decoded Values part 2 PHP and JSON - Looping Through the Values part 1 PHP and JSON - Looping Through the Values part 2 PHP Exceptions - Throwing an Exception PHP Exceptions - The try...catch Statement PHP Exceptions - The try...catch...finally Statement part 1 PHP Exceptions - The try...catch...finally Statement part 2 PHP Exceptions - The Exception Object