Simple cookie framework

A little framework: a complete cookies reader/writer with full Unicode support

As cookies are just specially formatted strings it is sometimes difficult to manage them.  The following library aims to abstract the access to document.cookie by defining an object (docCookies) that is partially consistent with a Storage object. It also offers full Unicode support.

Library

/*\
|*|
|*|  :: cookies.js ::
|*|
|*|  A complete cookies reader/writer framework with full unicode support.
|*|
|*|  Revision #1 - September 4, 2014
|*|
|*|  https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/document.cookie
|*|  https://developer.mozilla.org/User:fusionchess
|*|
|*|  This framework is released under the GNU Public License, version 3 or later.
|*|  https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0-standalone.html
|*|
|*|  Syntaxes:
|*|
|*|  * docCookies.setItem(name, value[, end[, path[, domain[, secure]]]])
|*|  * docCookies.getItem(name)
|*|  * docCookies.removeItem(name[, path[, domain]])
|*|  * docCookies.hasItem(name)
|*|  * docCookies.keys()
|*|
\*/

var docCookies = {
  getItem: function (sKey) {
    if (!sKey) { return null; }
    return decodeURIComponent(document.cookie.replace(new RegExp("(?:(?:^|.*;)\\s*" + encodeURIComponent(sKey).replace(/[\-\.\+\*]/g, "\\$&") + "\\s*\\=\\s*([^;]*).*$)|^.*$"), "$1")) || null;
  },
  setItem: function (sKey, sValue, vEnd, sPath, sDomain, bSecure) {
    if (!sKey || /^(?:expires|max\-age|path|domain|secure)$/i.test(sKey)) { return false; }
    var sExpires = "";
    if (vEnd) {
      switch (vEnd.constructor) {
        case Number:
          sExpires = vEnd === Infinity ? "; expires=Fri, 31 Dec 9999 23:59:59 GMT" : "; max-age=" + vEnd;
          break;
        case String:
          sExpires = "; expires=" + vEnd;
          break;
        case Date:
          sExpires = "; expires=" + vEnd.toUTCString();
          break;
      }
    }
    document.cookie = encodeURIComponent(sKey) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(sValue) + sExpires + (sDomain ? "; domain=" + sDomain : "") + (sPath ? "; path=" + sPath : "") + (bSecure ? "; secure" : "");
    return true;
  },
  removeItem: function (sKey, sPath, sDomain) {
    if (!this.hasItem(sKey)) { return false; }
    document.cookie = encodeURIComponent(sKey) + "=; expires=Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT" + (sDomain ? "; domain=" + sDomain : "") + (sPath ? "; path=" + sPath : "");
    return true;
  },
  hasItem: function (sKey) {
    if (!sKey) { return false; }
    return (new RegExp("(?:^|;\\s*)" + encodeURIComponent(sKey).replace(/[\-\.\+\*]/g, "\\$&") + "\\s*\\=")).test(document.cookie);
  },
  keys: function () {
    var aKeys = document.cookie.replace(/((?:^|\s*;)[^\=]+)(?=;|$)|^\s*|\s*(?:\=[^;]*)?(?:\1|$)/g, "").split(/\s*(?:\=[^;]*)?;\s*/);
    for (var nLen = aKeys.length, nIdx = 0; nIdx < nLen; nIdx++) { aKeys[nIdx] = decodeURIComponent(aKeys[nIdx]); }
    return aKeys;
  }
};

Writing a cookie

Syntax

docCookies.setItem(name, value[, end[, path[, domain[, secure]]]])

Description

Create/overwrite a cookie.

Parameters

name

The name of the cookie to create/overwrite (string).

value

The value of the cookie (string).

end Optional

The max-age in seconds (e.g. 31536e3 for a year, Infinity for a never-expires cookie), or the expires date in GMTString format or as Date object; if not, the specified the cookie will expire at the end of the session (number – finite or Infinity – string, Date object or null).

path Optional

The path from where the cookie will be readable. E.g., "/", "/mydir"; if not specified, defaults to the current path of the current document location (string or null). The path must be absolute (see RFC 2965). For more information on how to use relative paths in this argument, see this paragraph.

domain Optional

The domain from where the cookie will be readable. E.g., "example.com", ".example.com" (includes all subdomains) or "subdomain.example.com"; if not specified, defaults to the host portion of the current document location (string or null).

secure Optional

The cookie will be transmitted only over secure protocol as https (boolean or null).

Getting a cookie

Syntax

docCookies.getItem(name)

Description

Read a cookie. If the cookie doesn't exist a null value will be returned.

Parameters

name

The name of the cookie to read (string).

Removing a cookie

Syntax

docCookies.removeItem(name[, path[, domain]])

Description

Delete a cookie.

Parameters

name

The name of the cookie to remove (string).

path Optional

E.g., "/", "/mydir"; if not specified, defaults to the current path of the current document location (string or null). The path must be absolute (see RFC 2965). For more information on how to use relative paths in this argument, see this paragraph.

domain Optional

E.g., "example.com",  or "subdomain.example.com"; if not specified, defaults to the host portion of the current document location (string or null), but not including subdomains. Contrary to earlier specifications, leading dots in domain names are ignored. If a domain is specified, subdomains are always included.

Note: To delete cookies that span over subdomains, you need to explicitate the domain attribute in removeItem() as well as setItem().

Testing a cookie

Syntax

docCookies.hasItem(name)

Description

Check whether a cookie exists in the current position.

Parameters

name

The name of the cookie to test (string).

Getting the list of all cookies

Syntax

docCookies.keys()

Description

Returns an array of all readable cookies from this location.

Example usage:

docCookies.setItem("test0", "Hello world!");
docCookies.setItem("test1", "Unicode test: \u00E0\u00E8\u00EC\u00F2\u00F9", Infinity);
docCookies.setItem("test2", "Hello world!", new Date(2020, 5, 12));
docCookies.setItem("test3", "Hello world!", new Date(2027, 2, 3), "/blog");
docCookies.setItem("test4", "Hello world!", "Wed, 19 Feb 2127 01:04:55 GMT");
docCookies.setItem("test5", "Hello world!", "Fri, 20 Aug 88354 14:07:15 GMT", "/home");
docCookies.setItem("test6", "Hello world!", 150);
docCookies.setItem("test7", "Hello world!", 245, "/content");
docCookies.setItem("test8", "Hello world!", null, null, "example.com");
docCookies.setItem("test9", "Hello world!", null, null, null, true);
docCookies.setItem("test1;=", "Safe character test;=", Infinity);
docCookies.setItem("test11", "hello_fabulous", 5 * 60, "/", docCookies.getDomain());

alert(docCookies.keys().join("\n"));
alert(docCookies.getItem("test1"));
alert(docCookies.getItem("test5"));
docCookies.removeItem("test1");
docCookies.removeItem("test5", "/home");
alert(docCookies.getItem("test1"));
alert(docCookies.getItem("test5"));
alert(docCookies.getItem("unexistingCookie"));
alert(docCookies.getItem());
alert(docCookies.getItem("test1;="));
alert(docCookies.getItem("hello_fabulous"));