<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <link rel="STYLESHEET" href="modpython.css" type='text/css' /> <link rel="first" href="modpython.html" title='Mod_python Manual' /> <link rel='contents' href='contents.html' title="Contents" /> <link rel='index' href='genindex.html' title='Index' /> <link rel='last' href='about.html' title='About this document...' /> <link rel='help' href='about.html' title='About this document...' /> <link rel="next" href="pyapi-sess.html" /> <link rel="prev" href="pyapi-util.html" /> <link rel="parent" href="pythonapi.html" /> <link rel="next" href="pyapi-cookie-classes.html" /> <meta name='aesop' content='information' /> <title>4.7 Cookie - HTTP State Management</title> </head> <body> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <div id='top-navigation-panel' xml:id='top-navigation-panel'> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="4.6.4 Other functions" href="pyapi-util-funcs.html"><img src='previous.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="4. 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Python API</A> <b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="next" href="pyapi-cookie-classes.html">4.7.1 Classes</A> </div> <hr /></div> </DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <H1><A NAME="SECTION006700000000000000000"></A><A NAME="pyapi-cookie"></A> <BR> 4.7 <tt class="module">Cookie</tt> - HTTP State Management </H1> <A NAME="module-Cookie"></A> <P> The <tt class="module">Cookie</tt> module provides convenient ways for creating, parsing, sending and receiving HTTP Cookies, as defined in the specification published by Netscape. <P> <div class="note"><b class="label">Note:</b> Even though there are official IETF RFC's describing HTTP State Management Mechanism using cookies, the de facto standard supported by most browsers is the original Netscape specification. Furthermore, true compliance with IETF standards is actually incompatible with many popular browsers, even those that claim to be RFC-compliant. Therefore, this module supports the current common practice, and is not fully RFC compliant. <P> More specifically, the biggest difference between Netscape and RFC cookies is that RFC cookies are sent from the browser to the server along with their attributes (like Path or Domain). The <tt class="module">Cookie</tt> module ignore those incoming attributes, so all incoming cookies end up as Netscape-style cookies, without any of their attributes defined. </div> <P> <div class="seealso"> <p class="heading">See Also:</p> <dl compact="compact" class="seetitle"> <dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://wp.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html" >Persistent Client State - HTTP Cookies</a></em></dt> <dd>for the original Netscape specification.</dd> </dl> <dl compact="compact" class="seerfc"> <dt><a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2109.html" title="HTTP State Management Mechanism" >RFC 2109, <em>HTTP State Management Mechanism</em></a> <dd>for the first RFC on Cookies. </dl> <dl compact="compact" class="seerfc"> <dt><a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2964.html" title="Use of HTTP State Management" >RFC 2964, <em>Use of HTTP State Management</em></a> <dd>for guidelines on using Cookies. </dl> <dl compact="compact" class="seerfc"> <dt><a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2965.html" title="HTTP State Management Mechanism" >RFC 2965, <em>HTTP State Management Mechanism</em></a> <dd>for the latest IETF standard. </dl> <dl compact="compact" class="seetitle"> <dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.SE/0105018" >HTTP Cookies: Standards, Privacy, and Politics</a></em></dt> <dd>by David M. Kristol for an excellent overview of the issues surrounding standardization of Cookies.</dd> </dl> </div> <P> <p><br /></p><hr class='online-navigation' /> <div class='online-navigation'> <!--Table of Child-Links--> <A NAME="CHILD_LINKS"><STRONG>Subsections</STRONG></a> <UL CLASS="ChildLinks"> <LI><A href="pyapi-cookie-classes.html">4.7.1 Classes</a> <LI><A href="pyapi-cookie-func.html">4.7.2 Functions</a> <LI><A href="pyapi-cookie-example.html">4.7.3 Examples</a> </ul> <!--End of Table of Child-Links--> </div> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <div class='online-navigation'> <p></p><hr /> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="4.6.4 Other functions" href="pyapi-util-funcs.html"><img src='previous.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="4. Python API" href="pythonapi.html"><img src='up.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Up One Level' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="4.7.1 Classes" href="pyapi-cookie-classes.html"><img src='next.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Next Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td align="center" width="100%">Mod_python Manual</td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents" href="contents.html"><img src='contents.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Contents' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><img src='blank.png' border='0' height='32' alt='' width='32' /></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="index" title="Index" href="genindex.html"><img src='index.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Index' width='32' /></A></td> </tr></table> <div class='online-navigation'> <b class="navlabel">Previous:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="pyapi-util-funcs.html">4.6.4 Other functions</A> <b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="pythonapi.html">4. Python API</A> <b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="next" href="pyapi-cookie-classes.html">4.7.1 Classes</A> </div> </div> <hr /> <span class="release-info">Release 3.3.1, documentation updated on January 29, 2007.</span> </DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> </BODY> </HTML>