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
<?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>
Delete A Cookie:
To delete a cookie, use the setcookie() function with an expiration date in the past:
Example
<?php
// set the expiration date to one hour ago
setcookie(“user”, “”, time() – 3600);
?>
<html>
<body>
<?php
echo “Cookie ‘user’ is deleted.”;
?>
</body>
</html>
A session is a way to store information (in variables) to be used across multiple pages.
Unlike a cookie, the information is not stored on the users computer.
Setting Cookies with PHP :
PHP provided setcookie() function to set a cookie. This function requires upto six arguments and should be called before <html> tag. For each cookie this function has to be called separately.
setcookie(name, value, expire, path, domain, security);
Here is the detail of all the arguments:
Name – This sets the name of the cookie and is stored in an environment variable called HTTP_COOKIE_VARS. This variable is used while accessing cookies.
Value –This sets the value of the named variable and is the content that you actually want to store.
Expiry – This specify a future time in seconds since 00:00:00 GMT on 1st Jan 1970. After this time cookie will become inaccessible. If this parameter is not set then cookie will automatically expire when the Web Browser is closed.
Path -This specifies the directories for which the cookie is valid. A single forward slash character permits the cookie to be valid for all directories.
Domain – This can be used to specify the domain name in very large domains and must contain at least two periods to be valid. All cookies are only valid for the host and domain which created them.
Security – This can be set to 1 to specify that the cookie should only be sent by secure transmission using HTTPS otherwise set to 0 which mean cookie can be sent by regular HTTP.
(1) To set save file name as : “cookies.php”…..
<?php
setcookie(“name”, “John Watkin”, time()+60, “/”,””, 0);
setcookie(“age”, “36”, time()+60, “/”, “”, 0);
?>
<html>
<head>
<title>Setting Cookies with PHP</title>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
(2) To display cookies:
<?php
echo $_COOKIE[“name”];
?>
What is a PHP Session?:
When you work with an application, you open it, do some changes, and then you close it. This is much like a Session. The computer knows who you are. It knows when you start the application and when you end. But on the internet there is one problem: the web server does not know who you are or what you do, because the HTTP address doesn’t maintain state.
Session variables solve this problem by storing user information to be used across multiple pages (e.g. username, favorite color, etc). By default, session variables last until the user closes the browser.
So; Session variables hold information about one single user, and are available to all pages in one application.
Start A PHP Session:
A session is started with the session_start() function.
Session variables are set with the PHP global variable: $_SESSION.
Now, let’s create a new page called “demo_session1.php”. In this page, we start a new PHP session and set some session variables:
Example
<?php
// Start the session
session_start();
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<?php
// Set session variables
$_SESSION[“favcolor”] = “green”;
$_SESSION[“favanimal”] = “cat”;
echo “Session variables are set.”;
?>
</body>
</html>
Get PHP Session Variable Values:
Next, we create another page called “demo_session2.php”. From this page, we will access the session information we set on the first page (“demo_session1.php”).
Notice that session variables are not passed individually to each new page, instead they are retrieved from the session we open at the beginning of each page (session_start()).
Also notice that all session variable values are stored in the global $_SESSION variable:
Example
<?php
session_start();
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<?php
// Echo session variables that were set on previous page
echo “Favorite color is ” . $_SESSION[“favcolor”] . “.<br>”;
echo “Favorite animal is ” . $_SESSION[“favanimal”] . “.”;
?>
</body>
</html>
Destroy A PHP Session
To remove all global session variables and destroy the session, use session_unset() and session_destroy():
Example
<?php
session_start();
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<?php
// remove all session variables
session_unset();
// destroy the session
session_destroy();
?>
</body>
</html>