Wicked Cool PHP

#56: Creating a "Welcome Back, Username!" Message with Cookies

One cheap parlor trick that many websites employ is displaying "Welcome back" to returning users. If you tell the site your name, it can greet you by name.

To illustrate one way to do this, here is a script that can store user information in a cookie and display the cookie if available:

<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST["user_name"])) {
    setcookie("stored_user_name", $_REQUEST["user_name"], time() + 604800, "/");
    $_COOKIE["stored_user_name"] = $_REQUEST["user_name"];
}
if (isset($_COOKIE["stored_user_name"])) {
    $user = $_COOKIE["stored_user_name"];
    print "Welcome back, <b>$user</b>!";
} else {
    ?>
    <form method="post">
    User name: <input type="text" name="user_name" />
    </form>
    <?php
}?>

Accessing ...