PHP Web Fundamentals Reading Cookie Values

PHP Web Fundamentals

Reading Cookie Values

Problem

You want to read the value of a cookie that you’ve previously set.

Solution

Look in the $_COOKIE superglobal array:

         if (isset($_COOKIE['flavor'])) {
              print "You ate a {$_COOKIE['flavor']} cookie.";
         }

Discussion

A cookie’s value isn’t available in $_COOKIE during the request in which the cookie is set. In other words, calling the setcookie() function doesn’t alter the value of $_COOKIE. On subsequent requests, however, each cookie sent back to the server is stored in $_COOKIE.

When a browser sends a cookie back to the server, it sends only the value. You can’t access the cookie’s domain, path, expiration time, or secure status through $_COOKIE because the browser doesn’t send that to the server.

To print the names and values of all cookies sent in a particular request, loop through the $_COOKIE array:

         foreach ($_COOKIE as $cookie_name => $cookie_value) {
              print "$cookie_name = $cookie_value <br/>";
         }