Cookies not deleting..

[mybikeisace]

For some reason my cookies will not delete.
Can anyone see anything wrong with this:

Set the cookie
setcookie ("this_cookie", $cookie_val, 0);

Delete the cookie
setcookie ("this_cookie", "", time()-3600);
//by setting the time to the past

Now, unless the server clock is way out of time (which I have checked is fine) this should delete the cookie, but it doesnt.

[Bobulous]

It's been about six years since I used cookies heavily, but I vaguely recall having a similar problem.

I think the problem is that the page on which you delete the cookie does not yet know that the cookie is deleted. Only once the user proceeds to the next page is the new state known.

Try offering a "Thank you, you have logged out / deleted cookie, click here to continue" link and then on the next page check that the cookie is in fact gone.

[Sayian]

No.

If the Client Clock is not set correctly, the cookie will not be removed by that method.

The best way to delete a cookie is the following method.

setcookie("var", "", mktime(12,0,0,1, 1, 1971));

[Bobulous]

Oh, of course. The browser checks the client's clock to determine when to delete the cookie.

Does a time need to be specified to delete the cookie? Won't setting a cookie's value to an empty string remove it regardless?