How do you delete a cookie with Go and http package?

Question

A user has a cookie set when they visit using http.SetCookie like so:

expire := time.Now().Add(7 * 24 * time.Hour)
cookie := http.Cookie{
    Name:    "name",
    Value:   "value",
    Expires: expire,
}
http.SetCookie(w, &cookie)

If I want to remove this cookie at a later point, what is the correct way to do this?

possible duplicate of [How to delete cookie](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/27671061/how-to-delete-cookie) — Dave C, Apr 07 '15 at 19:43

Charlie Tumahai · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-08T16:07:27.143

9

You delete a cookie the same way you set a cookie, but with at time in the past:

expire := time.Now().Add(-7 * 24 * time.Hour)
cookie := http.Cookie{
    Name:    "name",
    Value:   "value",
    Expires: expire,
}
http.SetCookie(w, &cookie)

Note the -7.

You can also set MaxAge to a negative value. Because older versions of IE do not support MaxAge, it's important to always set Expires to a time in the past.

edited Apr 08 '15 at 16:07

answered Apr 07 '15 at 21:32

Charlie Tumahai

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So best option is doing both MaxAge<0 and Expires in the past in the same cookie? – jjgames Apr 08 '15 at 18:23
1

@jjgames Yeah, set the both. – Charlie Tumahai Apr 09 '15 at 00:08

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 08 '15 at 07:57

1

According to the doc of cookie.go, MaxAge<0 means delete cookie now. You can try following codes:

cookie := &http.Cookie{
    Name:   cookieName,
    Value:  "",
    Path:   "/",
    MaxAge: -1,
}
http.SetCookie(w, cookie)

answered Apr 08 '15 at 07:57

Juan

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3

Setting MaxAge works on the browsers that support the attribute. Setting Expires is better because all browsers support the attribute. – Charlie Tumahai Apr 08 '15 at 16:07
Any option to delete all cookies at once ? – Arun Aug 15 '20 at 05:22

How do you delete a cookie with Go and http package?

2 Answers2