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Asked: 2026-05-25T16:58:14+00:00

Is there a way that I can set a cookie after an html output?

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Is there a way that I can set a cookie after an html output? According to PHP manual setcookie() should be set before the output.

I need it for my voting system wherein a cookie will be set after a successful Mysql query. I made it in one file.

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  1. Editorial Team

    Is there a way that I can set a cookie after an html output?

    Technically no. If you would like to set a cookie you need to ensure that no output has been send to the browser so far.

    According to PHP manual setcookie() should be set BEFORE the output.

    That’s correct, otherwise it won’t work. So I would even say must, not only should.

    I need it for my voting system wherein a cookie will be set after a successful mysql query.

    A successful mysql query on it’s own will not create any output. Only a failed mysql query would if error reporting is enabled. So I wonder if you actually ran into a concrete problem or not.

    The mysql query itself should not prevent you from using setcookie.

    In case you have done already HTML output prior the use of setcookie you need to find the place where your HTML output started. Above that line place the ob_startDocs function which will start output buffering.

    With output buffering enabled, your program can still “output” HTML but it will not be send immediately. Then you should be able to call setcookie with no problems:

    <?php ob_start(); ?>
<html><body>
<?php 
  $result = mysql_run_query($query);
  echo '<h1>Your Voting Results</h1>';
  output_voting_result($result);
  set_cookie('vote', $result['id']);
?>
</body></html>

    The output buffer will be automatically send to the browser when your script finishes, so there is not much more you need to care about, the rest works automatically.

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