Difference between 0 and negative value for setMaxAge for Cookie

Question

From cookie docs for setMaxAge(int): http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/1.3/api/javax/servlet/http/Cookie.html#setMaxAge(int) Is there any difference between int = 0

Answer 1

I suggest you go read about cookies from a browser perspective. It's very interesting. Note that 'max-age' is the newer version of 'expires' and some browsers may not support it. (For example, IE6, IE7, and IE8 don't support max-age.)

0 means delete the cookie right now.

negative means preserve the cookie for a while. I suspect the scope is somewhat browser specific but it will not preserve the cookie across closing and reopening the browser.

Answer 2

setMaxAge(int) as mentioned by Oracle setting max age 0 will delete the cookie instantly. While -1 will delete the cookie when the browser is closed.

Answer 3

Setting setMaxAge to 0 will delete the cookie. Setting it to -1 will preserve it until the browser is closed.