GNURLOPT_COOKIELIST(3)

📦 version 7.72.0, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

✨ GNURLOPT_COOKIELIST(3) ✨

okay bestie, listen up 👂💖 so this is a libcurl manpage (specifically the gnurl situation) and it's all about CURLOPT_COOKIELIST — the icon, the legend, the function that lets you add to or mess with cookies held in memory 🍪✨. it's giving "i contain multitudes" and honestly? we're obsessed. let's get into it fr fr.

🌸 NAME 🌸

CURLOPT_COOKIELIST — add to or manipulate cookies held in memory 💅🍪

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

#include <gnurl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_COOKIELIST,
                          char *cookie);

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so basically you pass a char * to a cookie string, right? and that cookie can be either a single line in Netscape / Mozilla format OR just regular HTTP-style header (Set-Cookie: ...) format. either way, this also enables the cookie engine (slay 🎀) and adds that one single cookie to the internal cookie store. just one. a little guy. a singleton. we love that for it.

⚠️ bestie be careful if you're using this option and multiple transfers may occur. if you use the Set-Cookie format and don't specify a domain then the cookie is sent for any domain (even after redirects are followed) and it cannot be modified by a server-set cookie. and if a server sets a cookie of the same name (or maybe you've imported one) then both will be sent on a future transfer to that server — likely not what you intended 😭💀. to address these issues, set a domain in Set-Cookie (doing that will include sub-domains) or use the Netscape format as shown in EXAMPLE. periodt.

ngl there are also these special command strings you can pass that perform actions if you pass in these exact strings:

  • ALL — erases all cookies held in memory 🧹✨
  • SESS — erases all session cookies held in memory 🌙💨
  • FLUSH — writes all known cookies to the file specified by CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR(3) 💾
  • RELOAD — loads all cookies from the files specified by CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE(3) 📂

🌈 DEFAULT 🌈

NULL

like, nothing. empty. the void. she's got nothing on her rn 🙈

🎀 PROTOCOLS 🎀

HTTP

🔥 EXAMPLE 🔥

okay this example is literally so iconic, let me break it down for you 🫶. it shows an inline import of a cookie in Netscape format. you can set the cookie as HttpOnly to prevent XSS attacks by prepending #HttpOnly_ to the hostname — that may be useful if the cookie will later be imported by a browser. smart queen behavior 👑

/* This example shows an inline import of a cookie in Netscape format.
You can set the cookie as HttpOnly to prevent XSS attacks by prepending
#HttpOnly_ to the hostname. That may be useful if the cookie will later
be imported by a browser.
*/

#define SEP  "\t"  /* Tab separates the fields */

char *my_cookie =
  "example.com"    /* Hostname */
  SEP "FALSE"      /* Include subdomains */
  SEP "/"          /* Path */
  SEP "FALSE"      /* Secure */
  SEP "0"          /* Expiry in epoch time format. 0 == Session */
  SEP "foo"        /* Name */
  SEP "bar";       /* Value */

/* my_cookie is imported immediately via CURLOPT_COOKIELIST.
*/
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_COOKIELIST, my_cookie);

/* The list of cookies in cookies.txt will not be imported until right
before a transfer is performed. Cookies in the list that have the same
hostname, path and name as in my_cookie are skipped. That is because
libcurl has already imported my_cookie and it's considered a "live"
cookie. A live cookie won't be replaced by one read from a file.
*/
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookies.txt");  /* import */

/* Cookies are exported after curl_easy_cleanup is called. The server
may have added, deleted or modified cookies by then. The cookies that
were skipped on import are not exported.
*/
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookies.txt");  /* export */

curl_easy_perform(curl);  /* cookies imported from cookies.txt */

curl_easy_cleanup(curl);  /* cookies exported to cookies.txt */

the cookie file format and general cookie concepts in curl are described in the HTTP-COOKIES.md file, also hosted online here: https://curl.haxx.se/docs/http-cookies.html — go read it, it's giving lore 📖✨

👑 AVAILABILITY 👑

history lesson bestie, let's go:

  • ALL was added in 7.14.1
  • SESS was added in 7.15.4
  • FLUSH was added in 7.17.1
  • RELOAD was added in 7.39.0

💜 RETURN VALUE 💜

returns CURLE_OK if the option is supported (yay 🎉), CURLE_UNKNOWN_OPTION if not (oop 😬), or CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY if there was insufficient heap space (the audacity 😤💀).

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

and that's the tea, bestie 🍵💅 this page was brought to you by libcurl 7.37.0, dated 19 Jun 2014 😘✨ stay hydrated, eat your cookies, and don't forget to curl_easy_cleanup — mwah! 🫶🎀💖

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