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| 129 | .\" ======================================================================== |
| 130 | .\" |
| 131 | .IX Title "CGI::Cookie 3" |
| 132 | .TH CGI::Cookie 3 "2001-09-21" "perl v5.8.8" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide" |
| 133 | .SH "NAME" |
| 134 | CGI::Cookie \- Interface to Netscape Cookies |
| 135 | .SH "SYNOPSIS" |
| 136 | .IX Header "SYNOPSIS" |
| 137 | .Vb 2 |
| 138 | \& use CGI qw/:standard/; |
| 139 | \& use CGI::Cookie; |
| 140 | .Ve |
| 141 | .PP |
| 142 | .Vb 7 |
| 143 | \& # Create new cookies and send them |
| 144 | \& $cookie1 = new CGI::Cookie(-name=>'ID',-value=>123456); |
| 145 | \& $cookie2 = new CGI::Cookie(-name=>'preferences', |
| 146 | \& -value=>{ font => Helvetica, |
| 147 | \& size => 12 } |
| 148 | \& ); |
| 149 | \& print header(-cookie=>[$cookie1,$cookie2]); |
| 150 | .Ve |
| 151 | .PP |
| 152 | .Vb 3 |
| 153 | \& # fetch existing cookies |
| 154 | \& %cookies = fetch CGI::Cookie; |
| 155 | \& $id = $cookies{'ID'}->value; |
| 156 | .Ve |
| 157 | .PP |
| 158 | .Vb 2 |
| 159 | \& # create cookies returned from an external source |
| 160 | \& %cookies = parse CGI::Cookie($ENV{COOKIE}); |
| 161 | .Ve |
| 162 | .SH "DESCRIPTION" |
| 163 | .IX Header "DESCRIPTION" |
| 164 | CGI::Cookie is an interface to Netscape (\s-1HTTP/1\s0.1) cookies, an |
| 165 | innovation that allows Web servers to store persistent information on |
| 166 | the browser's side of the connection. Although CGI::Cookie is |
| 167 | intended to be used in conjunction with \s-1CGI\s0.pm (and is in fact used by |
| 168 | it internally), you can use this module independently. |
| 169 | .PP |
| 170 | For full information on cookies see |
| 171 | .PP |
| 172 | .Vb 1 |
| 173 | \& http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/http/rfc2109.txt |
| 174 | .Ve |
| 175 | .SH "USING CGI::Cookie" |
| 176 | .IX Header "USING CGI::Cookie" |
| 177 | CGI::Cookie is object oriented. Each cookie object has a name and a |
| 178 | value. The name is any scalar value. The value is any scalar or |
| 179 | array value (associative arrays are also allowed). Cookies also have |
| 180 | several optional attributes, including: |
| 181 | .IP "\fB1. expiration date\fR" 4 |
| 182 | .IX Item "1. expiration date" |
| 183 | The expiration date tells the browser how long to hang on to the |
| 184 | cookie. If the cookie specifies an expiration date in the future, the |
| 185 | browser will store the cookie information in a disk file and return it |
| 186 | to the server every time the user reconnects (until the expiration |
| 187 | date is reached). If the cookie species an expiration date in the |
| 188 | past, the browser will remove the cookie from the disk file. If the |
| 189 | expiration date is not specified, the cookie will persist only until |
| 190 | the user quits the browser. |
| 191 | .IP "\fB2. domain\fR" 4 |
| 192 | .IX Item "2. domain" |
| 193 | This is a partial or complete domain name for which the cookie is |
| 194 | valid. The browser will return the cookie to any host that matches |
| 195 | the partial domain name. For example, if you specify a domain name |
| 196 | of \*(L".capricorn.com\*(R", then Netscape will return the cookie to |
| 197 | Web servers running on any of the machines \*(L"www.capricorn.com\*(R", |
| 198 | \&\*(L"ftp.capricorn.com\*(R", \*(L"feckless.capricorn.com\*(R", etc. Domain names |
| 199 | must contain at least two periods to prevent attempts to match |
| 200 | on top level domains like \*(L".edu\*(R". If no domain is specified, then |
| 201 | the browser will only return the cookie to servers on the host the |
| 202 | cookie originated from. |
| 203 | .IP "\fB3. path\fR" 4 |
| 204 | .IX Item "3. path" |
| 205 | If you provide a cookie path attribute, the browser will check it |
| 206 | against your script's \s-1URL\s0 before returning the cookie. For example, |
| 207 | if you specify the path \*(L"/cgi\-bin\*(R", then the cookie will be returned |
| 208 | to each of the scripts \*(L"/cgi\-bin/tally.pl\*(R", \*(L"/cgi\-bin/order.pl\*(R", and |
| 209 | \&\*(L"/cgi\-bin/customer_service/complain.pl\*(R", but not to the script |
| 210 | \&\*(L"/cgi\-private/site_admin.pl\*(R". By default, the path is set to \*(L"/\*(R", so |
| 211 | that all scripts at your site will receive the cookie. |
| 212 | .IP "\fB4. secure flag\fR" 4 |
| 213 | .IX Item "4. secure flag" |
| 214 | If the \*(L"secure\*(R" attribute is set, the cookie will only be sent to your |
| 215 | script if the \s-1CGI\s0 request is occurring on a secure channel, such as \s-1SSL\s0. |
| 216 | .Sh "Creating New Cookies" |
| 217 | .IX Subsection "Creating New Cookies" |
| 218 | .Vb 7 |
| 219 | \& $c = new CGI::Cookie(-name => 'foo', |
| 220 | \& -value => 'bar', |
| 221 | \& -expires => '+3M', |
| 222 | \& -domain => '.capricorn.com', |
| 223 | \& -path => '/cgi-bin/database', |
| 224 | \& -secure => 1 |
| 225 | \& ); |
| 226 | .Ve |
| 227 | .PP |
| 228 | Create cookies from scratch with the \fBnew\fR method. The \fB\-name\fR and |
| 229 | \&\fB\-value\fR parameters are required. The name must be a scalar value. |
| 230 | The value can be a scalar, an array reference, or a hash reference. |
| 231 | (At some point in the future cookies will support one of the Perl |
| 232 | object serialization protocols for full generality). |
| 233 | .PP |
| 234 | \&\fB\-expires\fR accepts any of the relative or absolute date formats |
| 235 | recognized by \s-1CGI\s0.pm, for example \*(L"+3M\*(R" for three months in the |
| 236 | future. See \s-1CGI\s0.pm's documentation for details. |
| 237 | .PP |
| 238 | \&\fB\-domain\fR points to a domain name or to a fully qualified host name. |
| 239 | If not specified, the cookie will be returned only to the Web server |
| 240 | that created it. |
| 241 | .PP |
| 242 | \&\fB\-path\fR points to a partial \s-1URL\s0 on the current server. The cookie |
| 243 | will be returned to all URLs beginning with the specified path. If |
| 244 | not specified, it defaults to '/', which returns the cookie to all |
| 245 | pages at your site. |
| 246 | .PP |
| 247 | \&\fB\-secure\fR if set to a true value instructs the browser to return the |
| 248 | cookie only when a cryptographic protocol is in use. |
| 249 | .Sh "Sending the Cookie to the Browser" |
| 250 | .IX Subsection "Sending the Cookie to the Browser" |
| 251 | Within a \s-1CGI\s0 script you can send a cookie to the browser by creating |
| 252 | one or more Set\-Cookie: fields in the \s-1HTTP\s0 header. Here is a typical |
| 253 | sequence: |
| 254 | .PP |
| 255 | .Vb 3 |
| 256 | \& my $c = new CGI::Cookie(-name => 'foo', |
| 257 | \& -value => ['bar','baz'], |
| 258 | \& -expires => '+3M'); |
| 259 | .Ve |
| 260 | .PP |
| 261 | .Vb 2 |
| 262 | \& print "Set-Cookie: $c\en"; |
| 263 | \& print "Content-Type: text/html\en\en"; |
| 264 | .Ve |
| 265 | .PP |
| 266 | To send more than one cookie, create several Set\-Cookie: fields. |
| 267 | .PP |
| 268 | If you are using \s-1CGI\s0.pm, you send cookies by providing a \-cookie |
| 269 | argument to the \fIheader()\fR method: |
| 270 | .PP |
| 271 | .Vb 1 |
| 272 | \& print header(-cookie=>$c); |
| 273 | .Ve |
| 274 | .PP |
| 275 | Mod_perl users can set cookies using the request object's \fIheader_out()\fR |
| 276 | method: |
| 277 | .PP |
| 278 | .Vb 1 |
| 279 | \& $r->headers_out->set('Set-Cookie' => $c); |
| 280 | .Ve |
| 281 | .PP |
| 282 | Internally, Cookie overloads the "" operator to call its \fIas_string()\fR |
| 283 | method when incorporated into the \s-1HTTP\s0 header. \fIas_string()\fR turns the |
| 284 | Cookie's internal representation into an RFC-compliant text |
| 285 | representation. You may call \fIas_string()\fR yourself if you prefer: |
| 286 | .PP |
| 287 | .Vb 1 |
| 288 | \& print "Set-Cookie: ",$c->as_string,"\en"; |
| 289 | .Ve |
| 290 | .Sh "Recovering Previous Cookies" |
| 291 | .IX Subsection "Recovering Previous Cookies" |
| 292 | .Vb 1 |
| 293 | \& %cookies = fetch CGI::Cookie; |
| 294 | .Ve |
| 295 | .PP |
| 296 | \&\fBfetch\fR returns an associative array consisting of all cookies |
| 297 | returned by the browser. The keys of the array are the cookie names. You |
| 298 | can iterate through the cookies this way: |
| 299 | .PP |
| 300 | .Vb 4 |
| 301 | \& %cookies = fetch CGI::Cookie; |
| 302 | \& foreach (keys %cookies) { |
| 303 | \& do_something($cookies{$_}); |
| 304 | \& } |
| 305 | .Ve |
| 306 | .PP |
| 307 | In a scalar context, \fIfetch()\fR returns a hash reference, which may be more |
| 308 | efficient if you are manipulating multiple cookies. |
| 309 | .PP |
| 310 | \&\s-1CGI\s0.pm uses the \s-1URL\s0 escaping methods to save and restore reserved characters |
| 311 | in its cookies. If you are trying to retrieve a cookie set by a foreign server, |
| 312 | this escaping method may trip you up. Use \fIraw_fetch()\fR instead, which has the |
| 313 | same semantics as \fIfetch()\fR, but performs no unescaping. |
| 314 | .PP |
| 315 | You may also retrieve cookies that were stored in some external |
| 316 | form using the \fIparse()\fR class method: |
| 317 | .PP |
| 318 | .Vb 2 |
| 319 | \& $COOKIES = `cat /usr/tmp/Cookie_stash`; |
| 320 | \& %cookies = parse CGI::Cookie($COOKIES); |
| 321 | .Ve |
| 322 | .PP |
| 323 | If you are in a mod_perl environment, you can save some overhead by |
| 324 | passing the request object to \fIfetch()\fR like this: |
| 325 | .PP |
| 326 | .Vb 1 |
| 327 | \& CGI::Cookie->fetch($r); |
| 328 | .Ve |
| 329 | .Sh "Manipulating Cookies" |
| 330 | .IX Subsection "Manipulating Cookies" |
| 331 | Cookie objects have a series of accessor methods to get and set cookie |
| 332 | attributes. Each accessor has a similar syntax. Called without |
| 333 | arguments, the accessor returns the current value of the attribute. |
| 334 | Called with an argument, the accessor changes the attribute and |
| 335 | returns its new value. |
| 336 | .IP "\fB\f(BIname()\fB\fR" 4 |
| 337 | .IX Item "name()" |
| 338 | Get or set the cookie's name. Example: |
| 339 | .Sp |
| 340 | .Vb 2 |
| 341 | \& $name = $c->name; |
| 342 | \& $new_name = $c->name('fred'); |
| 343 | .Ve |
| 344 | .IP "\fB\f(BIvalue()\fB\fR" 4 |
| 345 | .IX Item "value()" |
| 346 | Get or set the cookie's value. Example: |
| 347 | .Sp |
| 348 | .Vb 2 |
| 349 | \& $value = $c->value; |
| 350 | \& @new_value = $c->value(['a','b','c','d']); |
| 351 | .Ve |
| 352 | .Sp |
| 353 | \&\fB\f(BIvalue()\fB\fR is context sensitive. In a list context it will return |
| 354 | the current value of the cookie as an array. In a scalar context it |
| 355 | will return the \fBfirst\fR value of a multivalued cookie. |
| 356 | .IP "\fB\f(BIdomain()\fB\fR" 4 |
| 357 | .IX Item "domain()" |
| 358 | Get or set the cookie's domain. |
| 359 | .IP "\fB\f(BIpath()\fB\fR" 4 |
| 360 | .IX Item "path()" |
| 361 | Get or set the cookie's path. |
| 362 | .IP "\fB\f(BIexpires()\fB\fR" 4 |
| 363 | .IX Item "expires()" |
| 364 | Get or set the cookie's expiration time. |
| 365 | .SH "AUTHOR INFORMATION" |
| 366 | .IX Header "AUTHOR INFORMATION" |
| 367 | Copyright 1997\-1998, Lincoln D. Stein. All rights reserved. |
| 368 | .PP |
| 369 | This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify |
| 370 | it under the same terms as Perl itself. |
| 371 | .PP |
| 372 | Address bug reports and comments to: lstein@cshl.org |
| 373 | .SH "BUGS" |
| 374 | .IX Header "BUGS" |
| 375 | This section intentionally left blank. |
| 376 | .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| 377 | .IX Header "SEE ALSO" |
| 378 | CGI::Carp, \s-1CGI\s0 |