$_COOKIE

(PHP 4 >= 4.1.0, PHP 5, PHP 7)

HTTP Cookies

An associative array of variables passed to the current script via HTTP Cookies.

$HTTP_COOKIE_VARS contains the same initial information, but is not a superglobal. (Note that $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS and $_COOKIE are different variables and that PHP handles them as such)

Changelog:

4.1.0

Introduced $_COOKIE that deprecated $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS.

Notes:

This is a 'superglobal', or automatic global, variable. This simply means that it is available in all scopes throughout a script. There is no need to do global $variable; to access it within functions or methods.

Examples:

$_COOKIE example

<?php
echo 'Hello ' . htmlspecialchars($_COOKIE["name"]) . '!';
?>

Assuming the "name" cookie has been set earlier

The above example will output something similar to:

Hello Hannes!