19.11. Cookies

Cookies are small bits of textual information that a Web server sends to a browser and that the browser returns unchanged when later visiting the same Web site or domain. By letting the server read information it sent the client previously, the site can provide visitors with a number of conveniences such as presenting the site the way the visitor previously customized it or letting identifiable visitors in without their having to enter a password. Most browsers avoid caching documents associated with cookies, so the site can return different content each time.

This section discusses how to explicitly set and read cookies from within servlets, and the next section shows how to use the servlet session tracking API (which can use ...

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