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:mod:`Cookie` --- HTTP state management
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=======================================
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:synopsis: Support for HTTP state management (cookies).
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.. moduleauthor:: Timothy O'Malley <timo@alum.mit.edu>
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.. sectionauthor:: Moshe Zadka <moshez@zadka.site.co.il>
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The :mod:`Cookie` module has been renamed to :mod:`http.cookies` in Python
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3.0. The :term:`2to3` tool will automatically adapt imports when converting
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The :mod:`Cookie` module defines classes for abstracting the concept of
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cookies, an HTTP state management mechanism. It supports both simple string-only
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cookies, and provides an abstraction for having any serializable data-type as
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The module formerly strictly applied the parsing rules described in the
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:rfc:`2109` and :rfc:`2068` specifications. It has since been discovered that
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MSIE 3.0x doesn't follow the character rules outlined in those specs. As a
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result, the parsing rules used are a bit less strict.
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On encountering an invalid cookie, :exc:`CookieError` is raised, so if your
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cookie data comes from a browser you should always prepare for invalid data
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and catch :exc:`CookieError` on parsing.
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.. exception:: CookieError
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Exception failing because of :rfc:`2109` invalidity: incorrect attributes,
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incorrect :mailheader:`Set-Cookie` header, etc.
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.. class:: BaseCookie([input])
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This class is a dictionary-like object whose keys are strings and whose values
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are :class:`Morsel` instances. Note that upon setting a key to a value, the
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value is first converted to a :class:`Morsel` containing the key and the value.
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If *input* is given, it is passed to the :meth:`load` method.
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.. class:: SimpleCookie([input])
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This class derives from :class:`BaseCookie` and overrides :meth:`value_decode`
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and :meth:`value_encode` to be the identity and :func:`str` respectively.
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.. class:: SerialCookie([input])
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This class derives from :class:`BaseCookie` and overrides :meth:`value_decode`
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and :meth:`value_encode` to be the :func:`pickle.loads` and
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Reading pickled values from untrusted cookie data is a huge security hole, as
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pickle strings can be crafted to cause arbitrary code to execute on your server.
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It is supported for backwards compatibility only, and may eventually go away.
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.. class:: SmartCookie([input])
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This class derives from :class:`BaseCookie`. It overrides :meth:`value_decode`
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to be :func:`pickle.loads` if it is a valid pickle, and otherwise the value
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itself. It overrides :meth:`value_encode` to be :func:`pickle.dumps` unless it
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is a string, in which case it returns the value itself.
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The same security warning from :class:`SerialCookie` applies here.
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A further security note is warranted. For backwards compatibility, the
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:mod:`Cookie` module exports a class named :class:`Cookie` which is just an
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alias for :class:`SmartCookie`. This is probably a mistake and will likely be
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removed in a future version. You should not use the :class:`Cookie` class in
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your applications, for the same reason why you should not use the
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:class:`SerialCookie` class.
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Module :mod:`cookielib`
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HTTP cookie handling for web *clients*. The :mod:`cookielib` and :mod:`Cookie`
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modules do not depend on each other.
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:rfc:`2109` - HTTP State Management Mechanism
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This is the state management specification implemented by this module.
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.. method:: BaseCookie.value_decode(val)
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Return a decoded value from a string representation. Return value can be any
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type. This method does nothing in :class:`BaseCookie` --- it exists so it can be
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.. method:: BaseCookie.value_encode(val)
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Return an encoded value. *val* can be any type, but return value must be a
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string. This method does nothing in :class:`BaseCookie` --- it exists so it can
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In general, it should be the case that :meth:`value_encode` and
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:meth:`value_decode` are inverses on the range of *value_decode*.
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.. method:: BaseCookie.output([attrs[, header[, sep]]])
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Return a string representation suitable to be sent as HTTP headers. *attrs* and
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*header* are sent to each :class:`Morsel`'s :meth:`output` method. *sep* is used
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to join the headers together, and is by default the combination ``'\r\n'``
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.. versionchanged:: 2.5
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The default separator has been changed from ``'\n'`` to match the cookie
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.. method:: BaseCookie.js_output([attrs])
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Return an embeddable JavaScript snippet, which, if run on a browser which
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supports JavaScript, will act the same as if the HTTP headers was sent.
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The meaning for *attrs* is the same as in :meth:`output`.
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.. method:: BaseCookie.load(rawdata)
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If *rawdata* is a string, parse it as an ``HTTP_COOKIE`` and add the values
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found there as :class:`Morsel`\ s. If it is a dictionary, it is equivalent to::
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for k, v in rawdata.items():
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Abstract a key/value pair, which has some :rfc:`2109` attributes.
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Morsels are dictionary-like objects, whose set of keys is constant --- the valid
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:rfc:`2109` attributes, which are
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The attribute :attr:`httponly` specifies that the cookie is only transfered
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in HTTP requests, and is not accessible through JavaScript. This is intended
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to mitigate some forms of cross-site scripting.
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The keys are case-insensitive.
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.. versionadded:: 2.6
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The :attr:`httponly` attribute was added.
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.. attribute:: Morsel.value
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The value of the cookie.
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.. attribute:: Morsel.coded_value
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The encoded value of the cookie --- this is what should be sent.
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.. attribute:: Morsel.key
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The name of the cookie.
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.. method:: Morsel.set(key, value, coded_value)
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Set the *key*, *value* and *coded_value* members.
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.. method:: Morsel.isReservedKey(K)
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Whether *K* is a member of the set of keys of a :class:`Morsel`.
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.. method:: Morsel.output([attrs[, header]])
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Return a string representation of the Morsel, suitable to be sent as an HTTP
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header. By default, all the attributes are included, unless *attrs* is given, in
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which case it should be a list of attributes to use. *header* is by default
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.. method:: Morsel.js_output([attrs])
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Return an embeddable JavaScript snippet, which, if run on a browser which
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supports JavaScript, will act the same as if the HTTP header was sent.
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The meaning for *attrs* is the same as in :meth:`output`.
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.. method:: Morsel.OutputString([attrs])
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Return a string representing the Morsel, without any surrounding HTTP or
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The meaning for *attrs* is the same as in :meth:`output`.
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The following example demonstrates how to use the :mod:`Cookie` module.
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:options: +NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE
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>>> C = Cookie.SimpleCookie()
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>>> C = Cookie.SerialCookie()
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>>> C = Cookie.SmartCookie()
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>>> C["fig"] = "newton"
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>>> C["sugar"] = "wafer"
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>>> print C # generate HTTP headers
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Set-Cookie: fig=newton
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Set-Cookie: sugar=wafer
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>>> print C.output() # same thing
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Set-Cookie: fig=newton
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Set-Cookie: sugar=wafer
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>>> C = Cookie.SmartCookie()
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>>> C["rocky"] = "road"
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>>> C["rocky"]["path"] = "/cookie"
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>>> print C.output(header="Cookie:")
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Cookie: rocky=road; Path=/cookie
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>>> print C.output(attrs=[], header="Cookie:")
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>>> C = Cookie.SmartCookie()
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>>> C.load("chips=ahoy; vienna=finger") # load from a string (HTTP header)
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Set-Cookie: chips=ahoy
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Set-Cookie: vienna=finger
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>>> C = Cookie.SmartCookie()
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>>> C.load('keebler="E=everybody; L=\\"Loves\\"; fudge=\\012;";')
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Set-Cookie: keebler="E=everybody; L=\"Loves\"; fudge=\012;"
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>>> C = Cookie.SmartCookie()
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>>> C["oreo"] = "doublestuff"
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>>> C["oreo"]["path"] = "/"
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Set-Cookie: oreo=doublestuff; Path=/
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>>> C = Cookie.SmartCookie()
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>>> C["twix"] = "none for you"
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>>> C = Cookie.SimpleCookie()
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>>> C["number"] = 7 # equivalent to C["number"] = str(7)
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>>> C["string"] = "seven"
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>>> C["number"].value
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>>> C["string"].value
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Set-Cookie: string=seven
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>>> C = Cookie.SerialCookie()
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>>> C["string"] = "seven"
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>>> C["number"].value
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>>> C["string"].value
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Set-Cookie: number="I7\012."
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Set-Cookie: string="S'seven'\012p1\012."
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>>> C = Cookie.SmartCookie()
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>>> C["string"] = "seven"
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>>> C["number"].value
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>>> C["string"].value
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Set-Cookie: number="I7\012."
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Set-Cookie: string=seven