PHP

Is there a difference when deleting cookies using the PHP setcookie() Function by using "0" or "false" as Boolean values instead of using an empty string (like this " ")?

  • PHP
  • Backend
  • Cookie
  • Cookies
  • setcookie()
  • Deleting
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Arun Raj
  • Post By Arun Raj
  • 4 years ago

Hello everyone!


My question is on deleting a cookie using the setcookie() function in PHP, when the first argument is boolean (aka true/false).

In the logout.php file, the following code is used and it works (note the second argument which is an empty string " " to mean the first argument "isLoggedIn" is now valueless:


// Delete the cookie for isLoggedIn
setcookie("isLoggedIn", "", time() - 3600); // Delete the cookie for isLoggedIn


However, since in the login.php file, we set cookies as such:


// Set cookies
setcookie("isLoggedIn", true, time() + (86400 * 30));


where the "isLoggedIn" is a boolean (with "true" as the argument),

will it make a difference if in the logout.php file, we do this (note the second argument "0"):


setcookie("isLoggedIn", "0", time() - 3600); // Delete the cookie for isLoggedIn


OR this (note the second argument "false"):


setcookie("isLoggedIn", "false", time() - 3600); // Delete the cookie for isLoggedIn


instead?

When I tested it, both the alternatives work the exact same way.

But my question is, is there any other differences between the first and the other two methods? Or is it just a matter of personal choice/company culture?

Thanks in advance!

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1 comments

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Manfred Lim
4 years ago

Hi Arun,


1. If you are looking to set your cooking to "0", it should be 0 without the double-quotes.
setcookie("isLoggedIn", 0, time() - 3600);

2. If you set the cookie as false or 0, it will also work, but instead of clearing the cookie, you are still setting a value to it, just that this time it's false.
If you are not using isset($_COOKIE["isLoggedIn"]), you can set the cookie to false or 0, but if you are, you will not be able to do that as the "isset" function detects whether or not the cookie exist, which in this case it still does just that it's false / 0.

I hope I answer your question.