PHP Cookie not saved after foreach

Question

I can not save a cookie after a foreach. Before the foreach the cookie is saved perfectly.

For example, this works fine:

<?php
setcookie('test', 'This is a test', time() + 3600 , '/', '.mydomain.com');    

if(isset($_COOKIE['test'])){
   echo 'The cookie is ' . $_COOKIE['test'];
} else {
   echo 'No cookie has been set';
}

foreach ($values as $value){  
  // CODE
  echo $value;
}
?>

But with this code, I can't save the cookie:

<?php
foreach ($values as $value){  
  // CODE
  echo $value;
}

setcookie('test', 'This is a test', time() + 3600 , '/', '.mydomain.com');    

if(isset($_COOKIE['test'])){
   echo 'The cookie is ' . $_COOKIE['test'];
} else {
   echo 'No cookie has been set';
}
?>

Any ideas?

What does `//CODE` do? If it emits anything then you cannot send a `Set-Cookie` HTTP header unless you buffer your output appropriately. — Phylogenesis, Jan 25 '17 at 11:45
In which case you cannot set a cookie, as once you've sent information in the content it's too late to send an HTTP header. — Phylogenesis, Jan 25 '17 at 11:47
*Heyyy..* exactly! A *echo* already sends the headers, so it can't send the `Set-Cookie` header. — Nytrix, Jan 25 '17 at 11:47
And how I can clear the HTTP header? I need to set the cookie after the foreach — kurtko, Jan 25 '17 at 11:48
If you [look at how HTTP works](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol#Example_session), you will see why you cannot do what you want to do. — Phylogenesis, Jan 25 '17 at 11:51
Read this thread, this is for redirecting mostly. *But..* the same idea http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8028957/how-to-fix-headers-already-sent-error-in-php — Nytrix, Jan 25 '17 at 11:51

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 25 '17 at 11:48

0

Cookies can only be set BEFORE OUTPUT... therefore if you are outputting in your foreach loop, cookies can not be set afterwards.

However, I believe you can actually use output buffers to work around this problem... So the following should work just fine...

ob_start();
setcookie(...);
ob_end_flush();

answered Jan 25 '17 at 11:48

Reel

354
2
4
14

The buffer needs to be started before your first `echo` call. – Phylogenesis Jan 25 '17 at 11:52

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 25 '17 at 11:58

0

Finally solved with this code:

<?php
ob_start();
foreach ($values as $value){  
  // CODE
  echo $value;
}

setcookie('test', 'This is a test', time() + 3600 , '/', '.mydomain.com'); 
ob_end_flush();    

if(isset($_COOKIE['test'])){
   echo 'The cookie is ' . $_COOKIE['test'];
} else {
   echo 'No cookie has been set';
}
?>

answered Jan 25 '17 at 11:58

kurtko

1,978
4
30
47

Great! I can advise to structure your code in a way that you won't need that next time though, It's (almost) always possible through proper structure. – Nytrix Jan 25 '17 at 12:03

PHP Cookie not saved after foreach

2 Answers2