4. EXAMPLES

4.1. Example 1

Most detail of request and response headers has been omitted. Assume the user agent has no stored cookies.

      1. User Agent -> Server

        POST /acme/login HTTP/1.1
        [form data]

        User identifies self via a form.

      2. Server -> User Agent

        HTTP/1.1 200 OK
        Set-Cookie2: Customer="WILE_E_COYOTE"; Version="1"; Path="/acme"

        Cookie reflects user's identity.

      3. User Agent -> Server

        POST /acme/pickitem HTTP/1.1
        Cookie: $Version="1"; Customer="WILE_E_COYOTE"; $Path="/acme"
        [form data]

        User selects an item for "shopping basket".

      4. Server -> User Agent

        HTTP/1.1 200 OK
        Set-Cookie2: Part_Number="Rocket_Launcher_0001"; Version="1";
                Path="/acme"

        Shopping basket contains an item.

      5. User Agent -> Server

        POST /acme/shipping HTTP/1.1
        Cookie: $Version="1";
                Customer="WILE_E_COYOTE"; $Path="/acme";
                Part_Number="Rocket_Launcher_0001"; $Path="/acme"
        [form data]

        User selects shipping method from form.

      6. Server -> User Agent

        HTTP/1.1 200 OK
        Set-Cookie2: Shipping="FedEx"; Version="1"; Path="/acme"

        New cookie reflects shipping method.

      7. User Agent -> Server

        POST /acme/process HTTP/1.1
        Cookie: $Version="1";
                Customer="WILE_E_COYOTE"; $Path="/acme";
                Part_Number="Rocket_Launcher_0001"; $Path="/acme";
                Shipping="FedEx"; $Path="/acme"
        [form data]

        User chooses to process order.

      8. Server -> User Agent

        HTTP/1.1 200 OK

        Transaction is complete.

The user agent makes a series of requests on the origin server, after each of which it receives a new cookie. All the cookies have the same Path attribute and (default) domain. Because the request-URIs all path-match /acme, the Path attribute of each cookie, each request contains all the cookies received so far.

4.2. Example 2

This example illustrates the effect of the Path attribute. All detail of request and response headers has been omitted. Assume the user agent has no stored cookies.

Imagine the user agent has received, in response to earlier requests, the response headers

   Set-Cookie2: Part_Number="Rocket_Launcher_0001"; Version="1";
           Path="/acme"

   and

   Set-Cookie2: Part_Number="Riding_Rocket_0023"; Version="1";
           Path="/acme/ammo"

   A subsequent request by the user agent to the (same) server for URLs
   of the form /acme/ammo/...  would include the following request
   header:

   Cookie: $Version="1";
           Part_Number="Riding_Rocket_0023"; $Path="/acme/ammo";
           Part_Number="Rocket_Launcher_0001"; $Path="/acme"

   Note that the NAME=VALUE pair for the cookie with the more specific
   Path attribute, /acme/ammo, comes before the one with the less
   specific Path attribute, /acme.  Further note that the same cookie
   name appears more than once.

   A subsequent request by the user agent to the (same) server for a URL
   of the form /acme/parts/ would include the following request header:

   Cookie: $Version="1"; Part_Number="Rocket_Launcher_0001";
   $Path="/acme"

   Here, the second cookie's Path attribute /acme/ammo is not a prefix
   of the request URL, /acme/parts/, so the cookie does not get
   forwarded to the server.