3 # See the bottom of this file for the POD documentation. Search for the
6 # You can run this file through either pod2man or pod2html to produce pretty
7 # documentation in manual or html file format (these utilities are part of the
8 # Perl 5 distribution).
10 # Copyright 1995,1996, Lincoln D. Stein. All rights reserved.
11 # It may be used and modified freely, but I do request that this copyright
12 # notice remain attached to the file. You may modify this module as you
13 # wish, but if you redistribute a modified version, please attach a note
14 # listing the modifications you have made.
16 # The most recent version and complete docs are available at:
17 # http://www.genome.wi.mit.edu/ftp/pub/software/WWW/cgi_docs.html
18 # ftp://ftp-genome.wi.mit.edu/pub/software/WWW/
20 $CGI::Cookie::VERSION='1.06';
23 use overload '""' => \&as_string,
27 # fetch a list of cookies from the environment and
28 # return as a hash. the cookies are parsed as normal
32 my $raw_cookie = $ENV{HTTP_COOKIE} || $ENV{COOKIE};
33 return () unless $raw_cookie;
34 return $class->parse($raw_cookie);
37 # fetch a list of cookies from the environment and
38 # return as a hash. the cookie values are not unescaped
39 # or altered in any way.
42 my $raw_cookie = $ENV{HTTP_COOKIE} || $ENV{COOKIE};
43 return () unless $raw_cookie;
47 my(@pairs) = split("; ",$raw_cookie);
49 if (/^([^=]+)=(.*)/) {
57 $results{$key} = $value;
59 return \%results unless wantarray;
64 my ($self,$raw_cookie) = @_;
67 my(@pairs) = split("; ",$raw_cookie);
69 my($key,$value) = split("=");
70 my(@values) = map CGI::unescape($_),split('&',$value);
71 $key = CGI::unescape($key);
72 $results{$key} = $self->new(-name=>$key,-value=>\@values);
74 return \%results unless wantarray;
80 $class = ref($class) if ref($class);
81 my($name,$value,$path,$domain,$secure,$expires) =
82 CGI->rearrange([NAME,[VALUE,VALUES],PATH,DOMAIN,SECURE,EXPIRES],@_);
84 # Pull out our parameters.
87 if (ref($value) eq 'ARRAY') {
89 } elsif (ref($value) eq 'HASH') {
101 # IE requires the path to be present for some reason.
102 ($path = $ENV{'SCRIPT_NAME'})=~s![^/]+$!! unless $path;
104 $self->path($path) if defined $path;
105 $self->domain($domain) if defined $domain;
106 $self->secure($secure) if defined $secure;
107 $self->expires($expires) if defined $expires;
113 return "" unless $self->name;
115 my(@constant_values,$domain,$path,$expires,$secure);
117 push(@constant_values,"domain=$domain") if $domain = $self->domain;
118 push(@constant_values,"path=$path") if $path = $self->path;
119 push(@constant_values,"expires=$expires") if $expires = $self->expires;
120 push(@constant_values,'secure') if $secure = $self->secure;
122 my($key) = CGI::escape($self->name);
123 my($cookie) = join("=",$key,join("&",map CGI::escape($_),$self->value));
124 return join("; ",$cookie,@constant_values);
130 return "$self" cmp $value;
137 $self->{'name'} = $name if defined $name;
138 return $self->{'name'};
144 $self->{'value'} = $value if defined $value;
145 return wantarray ? @{$self->{'value'}} : $self->{'value'}->[0]
151 $self->{'domain'} = $domain if defined $domain;
152 return $self->{'domain'};
158 $self->{'secure'} = $secure if defined $secure;
159 return $self->{'secure'};
165 $self->{'expires'} = CGI::expires($expires,'cookie') if defined $expires;
166 return $self->{'expires'};
172 $self->{'path'} = $path if defined $path;
173 return $self->{'path'};
180 CGI::Cookie - Interface to Netscape Cookies
184 use CGI qw/:standard/;
187 # Create new cookies and send them
188 $cookie1 = new CGI::Cookie(-name=>'ID',-value=>123456);
189 $cookie2 = new CGI::Cookie(-name=>'preferences',
190 -value=>{ font => Helvetica,
193 print header(-cookie=>[$cookie1,$cookie2]);
195 # fetch existing cookies
196 %cookies = fetch CGI::Cookie;
197 $id = $cookies{'ID'}->value;
199 # create cookies returned from an external source
200 %cookies = parse CGI::Cookie($ENV{COOKIE});
204 CGI::Cookie is an interface to Netscape (HTTP/1.1) cookies, an
205 innovation that allows Web servers to store persistent information on
206 the browser's side of the connection. Although CGI::Cookie is
207 intended to be used in conjunction with CGI.pm (and is in fact used by
208 it internally), you can use this module independently.
210 For full information on cookies see
212 http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/http/rfc2109.txt
214 =head1 USING CGI::Cookie
216 CGI::Cookie is object oriented. Each cookie object has a name and a
217 value. The name is any scalar value. The value is any scalar or
218 array value (associative arrays are also allowed). Cookies also have
219 several optional attributes, including:
223 =item B<1. expiration date>
225 The expiration date tells the browser how long to hang on to the
226 cookie. If the cookie specifies an expiration date in the future, the
227 browser will store the cookie information in a disk file and return it
228 to the server every time the user reconnects (until the expiration
229 date is reached). If the cookie species an expiration date in the
230 past, the browser will remove the cookie from the disk file. If the
231 expiration date is not specified, the cookie will persist only until
232 the user quits the browser.
236 This is a partial or complete domain name for which the cookie is
237 valid. The browser will return the cookie to any host that matches
238 the partial domain name. For example, if you specify a domain name
239 of ".capricorn.com", then Netscape will return the cookie to
240 Web servers running on any of the machines "www.capricorn.com",
241 "ftp.capricorn.com", "feckless.capricorn.com", etc. Domain names
242 must contain at least two periods to prevent attempts to match
243 on top level domains like ".edu". If no domain is specified, then
244 the browser will only return the cookie to servers on the host the
245 cookie originated from.
249 If you provide a cookie path attribute, the browser will check it
250 against your script's URL before returning the cookie. For example,
251 if you specify the path "/cgi-bin", then the cookie will be returned
252 to each of the scripts "/cgi-bin/tally.pl", "/cgi-bin/order.pl",
253 and "/cgi-bin/customer_service/complain.pl", but not to the script
254 "/cgi-private/site_admin.pl". By default, path is set to "/", which
255 causes the cookie to be sent to any CGI script on your site.
257 =item B<4. secure flag>
259 If the "secure" attribute is set, the cookie will only be sent to your
260 script if the CGI request is occurring on a secure channel, such as SSL.
264 =head2 Creating New Cookies
266 $c = new CGI::Cookie(-name => 'foo',
269 -domain => '.capricorn.com',
270 -path => '/cgi-bin/database'
274 Create cookies from scratch with the B<new> method. The B<-name> and
275 B<-value> parameters are required. The name must be a scalar value.
276 The value can be a scalar, an array reference, or a hash reference.
277 (At some point in the future cookies will support one of the Perl
278 object serialization protocols for full generality).
280 B<-expires> accepts any of the relative or absolute date formats
281 recognized by CGI.pm, for example "+3M" for three months in the
282 future. See CGI.pm's documentation for details.
284 B<-domain> points to a domain name or to a fully qualified host name.
285 If not specified, the cookie will be returned only to the Web server
288 B<-path> points to a partial URL on the current server. The cookie
289 will be returned to all URLs beginning with the specified path. If
290 not specified, it defaults to '/', which returns the cookie to all
293 B<-secure> if set to a true value instructs the browser to return the
294 cookie only when a cryptographic protocol is in use.
296 =head2 Sending the Cookie to the Browser
298 Within a CGI script you can send a cookie to the browser by creating
299 one or more Set-Cookie: fields in the HTTP header. Here is a typical
302 my $c = new CGI::Cookie(-name => 'foo',
303 -value => ['bar','baz'],
306 print "Set-Cookie: $c\n";
307 print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n";
309 To send more than one cookie, create several Set-Cookie: fields.
310 Alternatively, you may concatenate the cookies together with "; " and
311 send them in one field.
313 If you are using CGI.pm, you send cookies by providing a -cookie
314 argument to the header() method:
316 print header(-cookie=>$c);
318 Mod_perl users can set cookies using the request object's header_out()
321 $r->header_out('Set-Cookie',$c);
323 Internally, Cookie overloads the "" operator to call its as_string()
324 method when incorporated into the HTTP header. as_string() turns the
325 Cookie's internal representation into an RFC-compliant text
326 representation. You may call as_string() yourself if you prefer:
328 print "Set-Cookie: ",$c->as_string,"\n";
330 =head2 Recovering Previous Cookies
332 %cookies = fetch CGI::Cookie;
334 B<fetch> returns an associative array consisting of all cookies
335 returned by the browser. The keys of the array are the cookie names. You
336 can iterate through the cookies this way:
338 %cookies = fetch CGI::Cookie;
339 foreach (keys %cookies) {
340 do_something($cookies{$_});
343 In a scalar context, fetch() returns a hash reference, which may be more
344 efficient if you are manipulating multiple cookies.
346 CGI.pm uses the URL escaping methods to save and restore reserved characters
347 in its cookies. If you are trying to retrieve a cookie set by a foreign server,
348 this escaping method may trip you up. Use raw_fetch() instead, which has the
349 same semantics as fetch(), but performs no unescaping.
351 You may also retrieve cookies that were stored in some external
352 form using the parse() class method:
354 $COOKIES = `cat /usr/tmp/Cookie_stash`;
355 %cookies = parse CGI::Cookie($COOKIES);
357 =head2 Manipulating Cookies
359 Cookie objects have a series of accessor methods to get and set cookie
360 attributes. Each accessor has a similar syntax. Called without
361 arguments, the accessor returns the current value of the attribute.
362 Called with an argument, the accessor changes the attribute and
363 returns its new value.
369 Get or set the cookie's name. Example:
372 $new_name = $c->name('fred');
376 Get or set the cookie's value. Example:
379 @new_value = $c->value(['a','b','c','d']);
381 B<value()> is context sensitive. In an array context it will return
382 the current value of the cookie as an array. In a scalar context it
383 will return the B<first> value of a multivalued cookie.
387 Get or set the cookie's domain.
391 Get or set the cookie's path.
395 Get or set the cookie's expiration time.
400 =head1 AUTHOR INFORMATION
402 be used and modified freely, but I do request that this copyright
403 notice remain attached to the file. You may modify this module as you
404 wish, but if you redistribute a modified version, please attach a note
405 listing the modifications you have made.
407 Address bug reports and comments to:
408 lstein@genome.wi.mit.edu
412 This section intentionally left blank.