14.02.2006

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[ Send a cookie from a client ]

Set-Cookie: foo=foobar; path=/; expires=Thu, 24-Jun-2004 21:13:36 GMT
Set-Cookie: bar=barfoo; path=/; expires=Sun, 22-Jun-2014 09:13:36 GMT
...

my $query = CGI->new;

# read cookie 'your_cookie_name':
my %cookie_val = $query->cookie(-name => 'your_cookie_name');

# Debug: foreach (keys %cookie_val) { Debug "----> $_: $cookie_val{$_}" }


print $query->header(-type=>'image/gif',
                     -nph=>1,
                     -status=>'402 Payment required',
                     -expires=>'+3d',
                     -cookie=>$cookie,
                     -Cost=>'$2.00');

The -nph parameter, if set to a true value, will issue the correct headers to work with a NPH (no-parse-header) script. This is important to use with certain servers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, which expect all their scripts to be NPH.

expires

When you specify an absolute or relative expiration interval with this parameter, some browsers and proxy servers will cache the script's output until the indicated expiration date. The following forms are all valid for the -expires field:

               +30s                              30 seconds from now
               +10m                              ten minutes from now
               +1h                               one hour from now
               -1d                               yesterday (i.e. "ASAP!")
               now                               immediately
               +3M                               in three months
               +10y                              in ten years time
               Thursday, 25-Apr-1999 00:40:33 GMT  at the indicated time & date

Store a cookie

 my $cookie = $q->cookie (
                -name    => 'wtk_cust_logon',
                -value   => \%cookie_val,
                -path    => '/',
                -expires => '+12h'
 );

 my $cookie_persist = $q->cookie (
                -name    => 'wtk_cust_logon_persist',
                -value   => \%cookie_val_persist,
                -path    => '/',
                -expires => '+3M' # 3 months in the future
 );

 # store cookie(s)
 print $q->header(-cookie => [$cookie, $cookie_persist]);

Delete a cookie

 # delete cookie....
 #
 my $cookie = $q->cookie (
                -name    => 'wtk_cust_logon',
                -value   => '',
                -path    => '/',
                -expires => '-1d'
 );

 print $q->header(-cookie => $cookie);

 # default content-type text/html is set as well from now

Further References

1. perl/cgi-lite.htm (Perl)
   http://www.infocopter.com/perl/cgi-lite.htm
   Perl module to process and decode WWW forms and cookies (2004-06-24 10:31)
   
   
2. perl/cookie.htm (Perl)
   http://www.infocopter.com/perl/cookie.htm
   Cookie Handling with Perl (2004-06-24 10:17)
   
   
3. Perldoc.com/perl5.8.0/lib/lwpcook.html (Perl)
   http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.8.0/lib/lwpcook.html
   Examples that show typical usage of the libwww-perl library (2004-06-23 17:41)