A cookie has a name, a single value, and optional attributes such as a comment, path and domain qualifiers, a maximum age, and a version number. Some Web browsers have bugs in how they handle the optional attributes, so use them sparingly to improve the interoperability of your servlets.
The servlet sends cookies to the browser by using the
HttpServletResponse#addCookie method, which adds
fields to HTTP response headers to send cookies to the
browser, one at a time. The browser is expected to
support 20 cookies for each Web server, 300 cookies total, and
may limit cookie size to 4 KB each.
The browser returns cookies to the servlet by adding
fields to HTTP request headers. Cookies can be retrieved
from a request by using the HttpServletRequest#getCookies method.
Several cookies might have the same name but different path attributes.
Cookies affect the caching of the Web pages that use them. HTTP 1.0 does not cache pages that use cookies created with this class. This class does not support the cache control defined with HTTP 1.1.
This class supports both the Version 0 (by Netscape) and Version 1 (by RFC 2109) cookie specifications. By default, cookies are created using Version 0 to ensure the best interoperability.
| Modifier and Type | Field and Description |
|---|---|
| private String | |
| private String | |
| private boolean | |
| private static final String | |
| private static ResourceBundle | |
| private int | |
| private String | |
| private String | |
| private boolean | |
| private static final long | |
| private static final String | |
| private String | |
| private int |
| Access | Constructor and Description |
|---|---|
| public |
| Modifier and Type | Method and Description |
|---|---|
| public Object | clone()
Overrides java. java.lang.Object.clone
method to return a copy of this Cookie.
|
| public String | Returns: the comment of the cookie, ornull if unspecifiedReturns the comment describing the purpose of this cookie, or
|
| public String | |
| public int | Returns: an integer specifying the maximum age of the cookie in seconds; if negative, means the cookie persists until browser shutdownGets the maximum age in seconds of this Cookie. |
| public String | |
| public String | Returns: aString specifying a path that contains
a servlet name, for example, /catalogReturns the path on the server to which the browser returns this cookie. |
| public boolean | Returns: true if the browser uses a secure protocol,
false otherwiseReturns |
| public String | |
| public int | Returns: 0 if the cookie complies with the original Netscape specification; 1 if the cookie complies with RFC 2109Returns the version of the protocol this cookie complies with. |
| public boolean | Returns: true if this Cookie has been marked as HttpOnly, false otherwiseChecks whether this Cookie has been marked as HttpOnly. |
| private boolean | |
| public void | setComment(String
a purpose)String specifying the comment
to display to the userSpecifies a comment that describes a cookie's purpose. |
| public void | |
| public void | setHttpOnly(boolean
true if this cookie is to be marked as
HttpOnly, false otherwise isHttpOnly)Marks or unmarks this Cookie as HttpOnly. |
| public void | setMaxAge(int
an integer specifying the maximum age of the
cookie in seconds; if negative, means
the cookie is not stored; if zero, deletes
the cookie expiry)Sets the maximum age in seconds for this Cookie. |
| public void | |
| public void | setSecure(boolean
if flag)true, sends the cookie from the browser
to the server only when using a secure protocol; if false,
sent on any protocolIndicates to the browser whether the cookie should only be sent using a secure protocol, such as HTTPS or SSL. |
| public void | |
| public void | setVersion(int
0 if the cookie should comply with the original Netscape
specification; 1 if the cookie should comply with RFC 2109 v)Sets the version of the cookie protocol that this Cookie complies with. |
| comment | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private String comment | |
| domain | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private String domain | |
| isHttpOnly | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private boolean isHttpOnly | |
| LSTRING_FILE | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private static final String LSTRING_FILE | |
| lStrings | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private static ResourceBundle lStrings | |
| maxAge | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private int maxAge | |
| name | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private String name | |
| path | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private String path | |
| secure | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private boolean secure | |
| serialVersionUID | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private static final long serialVersionUID | |
| TSPECIALS | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private static final String TSPECIALS | |
| value | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private String value | |
| version | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private int version | |
| Cookie | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public Cookie(String name, String value) Constructs a cookie with the specified name and value. The name must conform to RFC 2109. However, vendors may provide a configuration option that allows cookie names conforming to the original Netscape Cookie Specification to be accepted. The name of a cookie cannot be changed once the cookie has been created. The value can be anything the server chooses to send. Its
value is probably of interest only to the server. The cookie's
value can be changed after creation with the
By default, cookies are created according to the Netscape
cookie specification. The version can be changed with the
| |
| clone | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public Object clone() Overrides java. Overrides the standard
| |
| getComment | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public String getComment() Returns the comment describing the purpose of this cookie, or
| |
| getDomain | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public String getDomain() Gets the domain name of this Cookie. Domain names are formatted according to RFC 2109. | |
| getMaxAge | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public int getMaxAge() Gets the maximum age in seconds of this Cookie. By default,
| |
| getName | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public String getName() Returns the name of the cookie. The name cannot be changed after creation.
| |
| getPath | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public String getPath() Returns the path on the server to which the browser returns this cookie. The cookie is visible to all subpaths on the server. | |
| getSecure | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public boolean getSecure() Returns
| |
| getValue | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public String getValue() Gets the current value of this Cookie. | |
| getVersion | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public int getVersion() Returns the version of the protocol this cookie complies with. Version 1 complies with RFC 2109, and version 0 complies with the original cookie specification drafted by Netscape. Cookies provided by a browser use and identify the browser's cookie version.
| |
| isHttpOnly | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public boolean isHttpOnly() Checks whether this Cookie has been marked as HttpOnly.
| |
| isToken | back to summary |
|---|---|
| private boolean isToken(String value) | |
| setComment | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public void setComment(String purpose) Specifies a comment that describes a cookie's purpose. The comment is useful if the browser presents the cookie to the user. Comments are not supported by Netscape Version 0 cookies.
| |
| setDomain | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public void setDomain(String domain) Specifies the domain within which this cookie should be presented. The form of the domain name is specified by RFC 2109. A domain
name begins with a dot ( | |
| setHttpOnly | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public void setHttpOnly(boolean isHttpOnly) Marks or unmarks this Cookie as HttpOnly. If isHttpOnly is set to true, this cookie is marked as HttpOnly, by adding the HttpOnly attribute to it. HttpOnly cookies are not supposed to be exposed to client-side scripting code, and may therefore help mitigate certain kinds of cross-site scripting attacks.
| |
| setMaxAge | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public void setMaxAge(int expiry) Sets the maximum age in seconds for this Cookie. A positive value indicates that the cookie will expire after that many seconds have passed. Note that the value is the maximum age when the cookie will expire, not the cookie's current age. A negative value means that the cookie is not stored persistently and will be deleted when the Web browser exits. A zero value causes the cookie to be deleted.
| |
| setPath | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public void setPath(String uri) Specifies a path for the cookie to which the client should return the cookie. The cookie is visible to all the pages in the directory you specify, and all the pages in that directory's subdirectories. A cookie's path must include the servlet that set the cookie, for example, /catalog, which makes the cookie visible to all directories on the server under /catalog. Consult RFC 2109 (available on the Internet) for more information on setting path names for cookies. | |
| setSecure | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public void setSecure(boolean flag) Indicates to the browser whether the cookie should only be sent using a secure protocol, such as HTTPS or SSL. The default value is
| |
| setValue | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public void setValue(String newValue) Assigns a new value to this Cookie. If you use a binary value, you may want to use BASE64 encoding. With Version 0 cookies, values should not contain white space, brackets, parentheses, equals signs, commas, double quotes, slashes, question marks, at signs, colons, and semicolons. Empty values may not behave the same way on all browsers. | |
| setVersion | back to summary |
|---|---|
| public void setVersion(int v) Sets the version of the cookie protocol that this Cookie complies with. Version 0 complies with the original Netscape cookie specification. Version 1 complies with RFC 2109. Since RFC 2109 is still somewhat new, consider version 1 as experimental; do not use it yet on production sites.
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