Question

Why does setcookie function not work?

Asked by: shadow_shooter

Hello,

I am trying to edit a PHP script and now it started to feel tired. What I'm trying to do is setting a cookie but it was not possible because of a headers already sent error. Then, I added "obstart()" at the beginning of the page to solve the problem. It worked flawless but the problem is now I cannot delete these cookies by setting them to a prior date when users log out.

It looks like PHP totally ignores the setcookie() function. The same thing happened while creating them but was solved after adding obstart() at the start. Same trick doesn't work in my logout.php

Any ideas?

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Asked On
2009-03-14 at 04:57:17ID24230145
Tags

cookie

,

php

Topic

PHP Scripting Language

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
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    Answers

     

    by: phpmonkeyPosted on 2009-03-14 at 05:02:14ID: 23886382

    After your headers have been sent you need to reload the page to be able to use set_cookie again since it all happens in the headers.
    A possible solution is to inject your page with javascript that handles everything when the page load complete's.
    Though i have found this though when using output buffering.

     

    by: shadow_shooterPosted on 2009-03-14 at 05:08:52ID: 23886395

    Sorry, I'm not sure if I understood you. How come can ob_start() work for one page but not for another page?

     

    by: phpmonkeyPosted on 2009-03-14 at 05:16:50ID: 23886420

    Oh you are not using ob_clear/flush in a loop somewhere?
    In that case you shouldn't need ob_start()
    The error usually means that you allready sent something to the browser forcing headers to be sent (as they are the first thing to go to a browser, and thats what php uses to set cookies).

    Put it all the way on top of your script before anything else (even html, css and whatever).
    Then it should be working.

     

    by: phpmonkeyPosted on 2009-03-14 at 05:18:14ID: 23886425

     

    by: drakeshePosted on 2009-03-14 at 05:55:34ID: 23886552

    Pretty much, you cant have any HTML or echo's before the setcookie()

     

    by: shadow_shooterPosted on 2009-03-14 at 06:00:49ID: 23886578

    This is really what I do but hopelessly even setting them as a first thing on my page, it doesn't work.

    I don't use flush or clear functions because simply ob_start() always worked for other related problems (but not this time though). The problem is I am using frames and what I'm editing is only a part of three separate pages. So, there is no way I can prevent others outputting (at least I don't know how to do so)

    Isn't there a reason ob_start() works for one page but not for another page?

     

    by: drakeshePosted on 2009-03-14 at 06:02:09ID: 23886582

    Is this PHP file being included/required? or is it running on it's own page?

     

    by: shadow_shooterPosted on 2009-03-14 at 06:15:12ID: 23886619

    It works on its own. The user is redirected to this page when s/he clicks "sign out".

    Let me attach the code snippet

    <?php
    ob_start();
    include "inc/baglan.php";
    if ($verified_kat == "admin") {
    $gnick = "&$verified_user";
    $sorgu = "DELETE FROM online WHERE nick = '$gnick' LIMIT 1";
    mysql_query($sorgu);
    }
    else if ($verified_kat == "mod") {
    $gnick = "+$verified_user";
    $sorgu = "DELETE FROM online WHERE nick = '$gnick' LIMIT 1";
    mysql_query($sorgu);
    }
    else {
    $sorgu = "DELETE FROM online WHERE nick = '$verified_user' LIMIT 1";
    mysql_query($sorgu);
    }  
    setcookie('user_name','', (time()-192000), '/', '.kayiprihtim.org', 0);
    setcookie('sec_user','', (time()-192000), '/', '.kayiprihtim.org', 0);
         
    ?>
    <SCRIPT src="images/top.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT>
    <SCRIPT language=javascript src=\"images/sozluk.js\"></SCRIPT>
    <META content="bar ortamlari" name=keywords>
    <META content="bar ortamlari" name=description><LINK href="favicon.ico"
    rel="shortcut Icon"><LINK href="favicon.ico" rel=icon><LINK
    href="images/sozluk.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet>
    <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-9">
    <SCRIPT language=javascript src="images/sozluk.js"></SCRIPT>
     
    <center>Bizi tercih ettiiniz için te_ekkürler..<br>
                                                  
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    by: shadow_shooterPosted on 2009-03-14 at 06:26:11ID: 23886655

    By the way, $verified_user is a session variable that is defined by session_register function.

     

    by: drakeshePosted on 2009-03-14 at 06:28:00ID: 23886665

    setting sessions I think can interfere with setting cookies.

     

    by: shadow_shooterPosted on 2009-03-14 at 06:30:42ID: 23886684

    Well, even putting the part of session variables out of my code doesn't help either. This is what I thought first too...

     

    by: drakeshePosted on 2009-03-14 at 06:33:05ID: 23886706

    Prety much if you set a session it sets the header and you cant set a cookie after thats done.

     

    by: shadow_shooterPosted on 2009-03-14 at 06:42:36ID: 23886789

    But there are examples of websites using both even on my another website, i both use session variables and cookies? Is there a source verifying this?

     

    by: Ray_PaseurPosted on 2009-03-14 at 09:44:44ID: 23887615

    You can use sessions and cookies together.  You just have to do things in the right order.

    Do session_start() first.
    Do ob_start() next.
    Read $_COOKIE and process anything associated with the existing cookies.

    If you want to "delete" a cookie, you simply use setcookie() with the cookie name, a useless value, and a date/time in the past.  This is commonly done in a logout script.  I will post one for you in a moment

    Learning about cookies is not easy - they are not intuitive.  That is because the cookies are NOT AVAILABLE to the script that sets them - only to subsequent scripts.  Perhaps you have noticed that login scripts set cookies, then redirect the browser to a new page?  The cookie is available on that new page.

    Here is a script that teaches about how to set cookies and how to understand them.  Print the code, install it on your server and run it, reading the code as you watch the script output.  It should help clarify things for you.

    <?php // RAY_cookie_example.php
     
    // RECEIVE FORM INPUT AND SET A COOKIE WITH THE NAME AND VALUES FROM THE FORM
    // MAN PAGE: http://us.php.net/manual/en/function.setcookie.php
    // TO SEE COOKIES IN FIREFOX, FOLLOW TOOLS => OPTIONS => PRIVACY => SHOW COOKIES
     
    define('COOKIE_LIFE', 60*60*24); // A 24-HOUR DAY IN SECONDS ( = 86,400 )
     
    if (!empty($_POST)) // IF THE FORM HAS BEEN POSTED
    {
     
    // TIDY UP THE POST INPUT
       $name = substr(clean_string($_POST["name"]),0,16);
       $data = substr(clean_string($_POST["data"]),0,16);
     
    // BE SURE WE HAVE USEFUL INFORMATION
       if ( ($name == '') || ($data == '') ) die("MISSING INPUT: PLEASE <a href=\"$PHP_SELF\">TRY AGAIN</a>");
     
    // CONSTRUCT THE COOKIE
    // USE THIS TO MAKE COOKIE EXPIRE AT END OF SESSION
       $cookie_expires	= 0;
     
    // USE THIS TO MAKE A PERSISTENT COOKIE - DEFINE COOKIE_LIFE IN SECONDS - date('Z') IS UTC OFFSET IN SECONDS
       $cookie_expires	= time() + date('Z') + COOKIE_LIFE;
     
    // CHOOSE THE COOKIE NAME AND VALUE
       $cookie_name 	= $name;
       $cookie_value	= $data;
     
    // MAKE THE COOKIE AVAILABLE TO ALL DIRECTORY PATHS IN THE WWW ROOT
       $cookie_path	= '/';
     
    // MAKE THE COOKIE AVAILABLE TO ALL SUBDOMAINS - DOMAIN SETTING STARTS WITH DOT - NO WWW, ETC.
       $cookie_domain	= ereg_replace('^www', '', strtolower($_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"]));
     
    // MAKE THE COOKIE AVAILABLE TO HTTP, NOT JUST HTTPS
       $cookie_secure	= FALSE;
     
    // HIDE COOKIE FROM JAVASCRIPT
       $cookie_http	= TRUE;
     
    // SET THE COOKIE
       if (setcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_value, $cookie_expires, $cookie_path, $cookie_domain, $cookie_secure, $cookie_http))
       {
          echo "<br/>SUCCESS!  THE COOKIE HAS BEEN SET AND WILL BE AVAILABLE TO THE NEXT PAGE LOAD \n";
       } else {
          echo "<br/>FAILURE!  THE COOKIE WAS NOT SET AS EXPECTED \n";
       }
     
    // AT THIS POINT, THE COOKIE HAS BEEN SET, BUT IT IS _NOT_ AVAILABLE TO THIS SCRIPT.  IT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO THE NEXT SCRIPT!
       echo '<pre>$_COOKIE CONTAINS '; var_dump($_COOKIE); echo "</pre>\n";
       echo '<pre>$_POST CONTAINS ';   var_dump($_POST);   echo "</pre>\n";
       echo "<br/>THE COOKIE HAS BEEN SET WITH THESE VALUES: \n";
       echo "<br/>COOKIE NAME: $cookie_name \n";
       echo "<br/>COOKIE VALUE: $cookie_value \n";
       echo "<br/>COOKIE EXPIRES: $cookie_expires ";
       echo " == " . date('r') . "\n";
       echo "<br/>COOKIE PATH: $cookie_path \n";
       echo "<br/>COOKIE DOMAIN: $cookie_domain \n";
       echo "<br/>COOKIE SECURE: "; var_dump($cookie_secure); echo " \n";
       echo "<br/>COOKIE HTTP: ";   var_dump($cookie_http);   echo " \n";
     
       echo "<br/>";
       echo "<br/>TO SEE THE COOKIES, IF ANY, <a href=\"$PHP_SELF\">CLICK HERE</a> \n";
       echo "<br/>";
    }
     
    // END OF SETTING THE COOKIE
    ?>
     
     
    <form method="post">
    COOKIE NAME: <input name="name" /><br/>
    COOKIE DATA: <input name="data" /><br/>
    <input type="submit" />
    </form>
     
     
    <?php
    // SHOW THE COOKIE ARRAY, IF ANY
    echo '<pre>$_COOKIE CONTAINS '; var_dump($_COOKIE); echo "</pre>\n";
     
     
    // A FUNCTION TO FORCE A STRING TO CHARACTERS ONLY
    function clean_string($string)
    {
       return trim(ereg_replace('[^a-zA-Z0-9_]', '', $string));
    }
    ?>
    
                                                  
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    by: Ray_PaseurPosted on 2009-03-14 at 09:48:14ID: 23887620

    Here is a sample "logout" script.

    <?php // RAY_logout.php
     
    // CLEAR THE INFORMATION FROM THE SESSION
    $_SESSION = array();
     
    // IF THE SESSION IS KEPT IN A COOKIE, FORCE IT TO EXPIRE
    if (isset($_COOKIE[session_name()]))
    {
       setcookie(session_name(), '', time()-42000, '/');
    }
     
    // TELL PHP TO ELIMINATE THE SESSION
    session_destroy();
     
    // REDIRECT TO THE HOME PAGE
    header("Location: /");
    exit;
     
    ?>
    
                                                  
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    by: Ray_PaseurPosted on 2009-03-14 at 09:56:56ID: 23887642

    Here is another sample logout script that teaches how to eliminate all the cookies.

    Please post back here if you have any questions, ~Ray

    <?php // RAY_logout.php
    error_reporting(E_ALL);
     
     
    define('COOKIE_LIFE', 60*60*24); // A 24-HOUR DAY IN SECONDS ( = 86,400 )
    $cookie_expires	= time() - date('Z') - COOKIE_LIFE;
     
     
    // CLEAR THE INFORMATION FROM THE $_SESSION ARRAY
    $_SESSION = array();
     
    // IF THE SESSION IS KEPT IN COOKIE, FORCE SESSION COOKIE TO EXPIRE
    if (isset($_COOKIE[session_name()]))
    {
       setcookie(session_name(), '', $cookie_expires, '/');
    }
     
    // TELL PHP TO ELIMINATE THE SESSION
    session_destroy();
     
     
     
     
     
     
    // CLEAR ALL COOKIES WITH THIS CODE
    foreach ($_COOKIE as $key => $value)
    {
       setcookie($key, '', $cookie_expires, '/');
    }
     
     
     
     
     
    // REDIRECT TO THE HOME PAGE
    header("Location: /");
    exit;
     
    ?>
    
                                                  
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    by: shadow_shooterPosted on 2009-03-15 at 00:23:08ID: 23890103

    Ray Paseur, It worked like a miracle. Thanks for the efforts.

     

    by: shadow_shooterPosted on 2009-03-15 at 00:25:15ID: 31558065

    Thank you.

     

    by: Ray_PaseurPosted on 2009-03-15 at 06:47:02ID: 23891322

    Thanks for the points!  It's a great question and one that confuses a lot of developers.  Best regards, ~Ray

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