Question

I’m trying to store an array for cookie, but I get the following error:

Warning: setcookie() expects parameter 2 to be string, array given

How can I actually put an array to a cookie?

EDIT2: I Edited the code, and I it does store cookie array now, but I’ve got a HUGE problem though. It does not override the values from first submission if the size of second array is smaller.

Example. first submission array[1206,0402], second submission array[0402]. but the outcome is then [0402,0402] which is wrong.

function cuukko($var,$val){
    setcookie($var,$val,time()+60*60*24*365);
}

function preg_DW($var){
    global $isset;
    if ($isset&&is_array($_POST[$var])&&sizeof($_POST[$var])>0){
        $C=0;
        foreach ($_POST[$var] as $key => $value) {
            $val[$C]=trim(preg_replace('/\s\s+/',' ',preg_replace('/[^\d\w\s\(\)\[\]]+/','',$value)));
            cuukko($var."[".$C."]",$val[$C]);
            $C++;
        }
    } elseif (isset($_COOKIE[$var])) $val=$_COOKIE[$var];
        return (sizeof($val)>0)?$val:array();
}

Edit 3: The question has been resolved. The code in use now:

function cuukko($var,$val){
    setcookie($var,$val,time()+60*60*24*365);
}

function preg_DW($var){
    global $isset;
    if ($isset){
        $C=0;
        if (is_array($_COOKIE[$var]))
        foreach($_COOKIE[$var] as $key =>$trash)
        setcookie("{$var}[".$key.']', '', time()-60*60*24*365);
        if (is_array($_POST[$var]))
        foreach ($_POST[$var] as $key => $value) {
            $val[$C]=trim(preg_replace('/\s\s+/',' ',preg_replace('/[^\d\w\s\(\)\[\]]+/','',$value)));
            cuukko($var."[".$C."]",$val[$C]);
            $C++;
        }
    } elseif (isset($_COOKIE[$var])) $val=$_COOKIE[$var];
        return (sizeof($val)>0)?$val:array();
}

Answer 1

Answer

You can store cookies using array syntax and read them as a multi-dimensional arrays:

setcookie('array[key]', 'value');
$var = $_COOKIE['array']['key'];

Your code would look like this:

for($val as $key=>$value)
  setcookie('vals['.$key.']', $value, time()+60*60*24*365);

Multi-Dimensional Arrays

You can also store multi-dimensional arrays the same way:

setcookie('array[key1][key2]', 'value');
$var = $_COOKIE['array']['key1']['key2'];

Clearing the Cookie

When you need to clear out the cookie, there are multiple methods; the longest being:

for($_COOKIE['array'] as $key=>$value)
  setcookie('array['.$key.']', '', time()-60*60*24*365);

The easiest and most preferable way is this:

setcookie('array', '', time()-60*60*24*365);

Conclusion

Cookies allow arrays to be stored using standard array syntax. Storing a multi-dimensional array is also standard syntax.

To destroy a cookie with an array value, use the same syntax as for a normal cookie, either over the whole array or on each specific element.

The documentation on setcookie() goes over this.