Getting Cookies

PerlSufi has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello monks,
I want to extract cookies from a website. Particularly, JSESSIONID cookie. However, when I run the code below, nothing turns up in my file except '#LWP-Cookies-1.0'.

use LWP::UserAgent;
use HTTP::Cookies;


my $cookie_jar = HTTP::Cookies->new( file => 'C:\path\to\cookies.dat',
+ autosave=> 1);

my $browser = LWP::UserAgent->new( );

$browser->cookie_jar( $cookie_jar );

$browser->get('https://example.com');
[download]

Any insight into what I'm doing wrong is greatly appreciated!

Comment on Getting Cookies Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Getting Cookies by kennethk (Abbot) on Jul 05, 2013 at 16:02 UTC
Your code above is correct, assuming that your cookie isn't timing out (i.e. isn't a session cookie). Under normal circumstances, session cookies are discarded immediately upon exit from your 'browser'. If you want to force holding onto the cookie, use `ignore_discard` in your constructor: `my $cookie_jar = HTTP::Cookies->new(file => 'C:\path\to\cookies.dat', autosave=> 1, ignore_discard => 1);` [download] The flag is documented in HTTP::Cookies, and read HTTP_cookie#Session_cookie to learn more about the behavior. #11929 First ask yourself `How would I do this without a computer?' Then have the computer do it the same way.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Getting Cookies by PerlSufi (Friar) on Jul 05, 2013 at 16:45 UTC
Thanks, kennethk. That worked for me. :) The cookie is different from what my browser gives me so I'm working on how to get that now	[reply]
Re^3: Getting Cookies by kennethk (Abbot) on Jul 05, 2013 at 16:51 UTC
Firebug, the free Firefox plug-in, makes that easy. I'd also mention that, instead of storing cookies to disk, you can use Data::Dumper to look at your cookie jar contents. #11929 First ask yourself `How would I do this without a computer?' Then have the computer do it the same way.	[reply]
Re^4: Getting Cookies by PerlSufi (Friar) on Jul 05, 2013 at 16:59 UTC
Re^4: Getting Cookies by PerlSufi (Friar) on Jul 05, 2013 at 17:25 UTC
Re^5: Getting Cookies by Corion (Patriarch) on Jul 05, 2013 at 17:34 UTC
Some notes below your chosen depth have not been shown here
Re^4: Getting Cookies by Anonymous Monk on Jul 05, 2013 at 20:03 UTC
Re: Getting Cookies (webbug) by Anonymous Monk on Jul 06, 2013 at 06:46 UTC
Well, for some reason you think https://example.com/ will set some cookies for you, and not, for example, an image embedded inside html returned by https://example.com/ or javascript embedded inside or css embedded inside or one or more combinations of both Also, could be https://example.com/ doesn't like the headers you're sending, so it doesn't give you a cookie Also, it could be a proxy of some sort between you and https://example.com/ interfering Also, it could be some firewall or antivirus or somesuch interfering on your machine (or on proxy between you and https://example.com/ ) Also, it could be anything :)	[reply]