Are cookie names case-sensitive?

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Are cookie names case-sensitive?

Last post 10-24-2007 12:45 AM by binobose. 7 replies.

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Are cookie names case-sensitive?

10-15-2007, 4:12 PM

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2,766 point Contributor
RichardD
Member since 09-03-2002, 11:43 AM
Sussex, UK
Posts 364

According to Microsoft:

Cookie names are NOT case-sensitive.
msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms970178.aspx

However, if I set a cookie with a name of "BasketID", it doesn't overwrite a previous cookie called "basketid" in either IE7 or Firefox 2. The HttpCookieCollection indexer is case-insensitive, so it can only ever return one of these cookies, but both are present if you examine the AllKeys property or access the list by index.

I've just noticed this problem with an old ASP site which I've upgraded to ASP.NET - cookies set from the old site had a different case, and were overriding cookies set from the new site. So far, the only solution seems to be to iterate through the AllKeys array and manually expire any cookies which don't match the case of the cookie I'm setting.

Re: Are cookie names case-sensitive?

10-17-2007, 10:21 AM

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60,811 point All-Star
anas
Member since 09-21-2006, 8:31 AM
Palestinian Territory, Occupied
Posts 6,851

cookie names are not case sensitive

Regards,

Anas Ghanem | Blog

Re: Are cookie names case-sensitive?

10-17-2007, 11:05 AM

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2,766 point Contributor
RichardD
Member since 09-03-2002, 11:43 AM
Sussex, UK
Posts 364

OK, then explain this:

CookieTest1.ashx:

1    <% @ WebHandler language="C#" class="TestCookieHandler1" %>
2    
3    using System;
4    using System.Web;
5    
6    public class TestCookieHandler1 : IHttpHandler
7    {
8        public bool IsReusable
9        {
10           get { return false; }
11       }
12       
13       public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
14       {
15           HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie("TestCookie", "CookieTest1.ashx");
16           context.Response.Cookies.Set(cookie);
17           context.Response.Redirect("CookieTest2.ashx");
18       }
19   }

CookieTest2.ashx:

1    <% @ WebHandler language="C#" class="TestCookieHandler2" %>
2    
3    using System;
4    using System.Web;
5    
6    public class TestCookieHandler2 : IHttpHandler
7    {
8        public bool IsReusable
9        {
10           get { return false; }
11       }
12       
13       public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
14       {
15           HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie("testcookie", "CookieTest2.ashx");
16           context.Response.Cookies.Set(cookie);
17           context.Response.Redirect("CookieTest3.ashx");
18       }
19   }

CookieTest3.ashx:

1    <% @ WebHandler language="C#" class="TestCookieHandler3" %>
2    
3    using System;
4    using System.IO;
5    using System.Web;
6    
7    public class TestCookieHandler3 : IHttpHandler
8    {
9        public bool IsReusable
10       {
11           get { return false; }
12       }
13       
14       public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
15       {
16           RenderCookies(context.Response.Output, context.Request.Cookies);
17       }
18       
19       private void RenderCookies(TextWriter writer, HttpCookieCollection cookies)
20       {
21           writer.Write("<html><head><title>Cookie Test</title></head><body><ul>");
22           
23           writer.Write("<li><b>Keys:</b> [&quot;");
24           HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(string.Join("\", \"", cookies.AllKeys), writer);
25           writer.Write("&quot;]</li>");
26           
27           for (int index = 0; index < cookies.Count; index++)
28           {
29               writer.Write("<li>{0:D}> <b>", index);
30               HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(cookies.GetKey(index), writer);
31               writer.Write("</b> = &quot;");
32               HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(cookies[index].Value, writer);
33               writer.Write("&quot;</li>");
34           }
35           
36           writer.Write("<li><b>TestCookie</b> = &quot;");
37           HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(cookies["TestCookie"].Value, writer);
38           writer.Write("&quot;</li>");
39           
40           writer.Write("<li><b>testcookie</b> = &quot;");
41           HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(cookies["testcookie"].Value, writer);
42           writer.Write("&quot;</li>");
43           
44           writer.Write("</ul></body></html>");
45       }
46   }

Save these three files in a folder on your web-server, and navigate to CookieTest1.ashx. If cookie names are NOT case-sensitive, there should only be one instance of the "TestCookie" cookie, and it should have a value of "CookieTest2.ashx".

In IE7, Firefox 2 and Opera 9, the final output reads:

Keys: ["TestCookie", "testcookie"]
0> TestCookie = "CookieTest1.ashx"
1> testcookie = "CookieTest2.ashx"
TestCookie = "CookieTest1.ashx"
testcookie = "CookieTest1.ashx"

Re: Are cookie names case-sensitive?

10-18-2007, 10:52 AM

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293 point Member
janakaraj
Member since 10-15-2007, 2:42 PM
Coimbatore
Posts 137

Cookie names are case insensitive

Re: Are cookie names case-sensitive?

10-18-2007, 11:00 AM

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2,766 point Contributor
RichardD
Member since 09-03-2002, 11:43 AM
Sussex, UK
Posts 364

If cookie names are case insensitive, the example code from my previous post would result in a single cookie, called either "TestCookie" or "testcookie", with a value of "CookieTest2.ashx".

In IE7, Firefox 2 and Opera 9, it results in two separate cookies - "TestCookie" and "testcookie".

Therefore, at least in the three major browsers for Windows, cookie names are NOT case insensitive.

Re: Are cookie names case-sensitive?

10-18-2007, 11:09 AM

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60,811 point All-Star
anas
Member since 09-21-2006, 8:31 AM
Palestinian Territory, Occupied
Posts 6,851

i think when microsoft said

cookiees is case insensitive , they meant on the server side ,

or when you access it from request object like this request.cookies.item("...

any way , do you still have a problem ?

regards,

Regards,

Anas Ghanem | Blog

Re: Are cookie names case-sensitive?

10-18-2007, 11:24 AM

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2,766 point Contributor
RichardD
Member since 09-03-2002, 11:43 AM
Sussex, UK
Posts 364

The cookie theory link is part of a Javascript book, so I don't see how it can be referring to accessing the cookies on the server.

Although I've written some code to get around the problem when setting or clearing cookies, there is still no simple way in ASP.NET to access both "TestCookie" and "testcookie" from the Request.Cookies collection; you have to resort to iterating through the list by index.

This problem also seems to affect "Classic" ASP - the Request.Cookies collection only returns one of the cookie values, whichever case you use to access it.

Re: Are cookie names case-sensitive?

10-24-2007, 12:45 AM

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2,728 point Contributor
binobose
Member since 10-23-2007, 4:42 AM
India
Posts 606

cookies are case sensitive

Cheers
Bino
www.codepal.co.in

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