# cookie
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[![NPM Downloads][npm-downloads-image]][npm-url]
[![Node.js Version][node-image]][node-url]
[![Build Status][ci-image]][ci-url]
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Basic HTTP cookie parser and serializer for HTTP servers.
## Installation
This is a [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en/) module available through the
[npm registry](https://www.npmjs.com/). Installation is done using the
[`npm install` command](https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/installing-npm-packages-locally):
```sh
$ npm install cookie
```
## API
```js
var cookie = require('cookie');
```
### cookie.parse(str, options)
Parse an HTTP `Cookie` header string and returning an object of all cookie name-value pairs.
The `str` argument is the string representing a `Cookie` header value and `options` is an
optional object containing additional parsing options.
```js
var cookies = cookie.parse('foo=bar; equation=E%3Dmc%5E2');
// { foo: 'bar', equation: 'E=mc^2' }
```
#### Options
`cookie.parse` accepts these properties in the options object.
##### decode
Specifies a function that will be used to decode a cookie's value. Since the value of a cookie
has a limited character set (and must be a simple string), this function can be used to decode
a previously-encoded cookie value into a JavaScript string or other object.
The default function is the global `decodeURIComponent`, which will decode any URL-encoded
sequences into their byte representations.
**note** if an error is thrown from this function, the original, non-decoded cookie value will
be returned as the cookie's value.
### cookie.serialize(name, value, options)
Serialize a cookie name-value pair into a `Set-Cookie` header string. The `name` argument is the
name for the cookie, the `value` argument is the value to set the cookie to, and the `options`
argument is an optional object containing additional serialization options.
```js
var setCookie = cookie.serialize('foo', 'bar');
// foo=bar
```
#### Options
`cookie.serialize` accepts these properties in the options object.
##### domain
Specifies the value for the [`Domain` `Set-Cookie` attribute][rfc-6265-5.2.3]. By default, no
domain is set, and most clients will consider the cookie to apply to only the current domain.
##### encode
Specifies a function that will be used to encode a cookie's value. Since value of a cookie
has a limited character set (and must be a simple string), this function can be used to encode
a value into a string suited for a cookie's value.
The default function is the global `encodeURIComponent`, which will encode a JavaScript string
into UTF-8 byte sequences and then URL-encode any that fall outside of the cookie range.
##### expires
Specifies the `Date` object to be the value for the [`Expires` `Set-Cookie` attribute][rfc-6265-5.2.1].
By default, no expiration is set, and most clients will consider this a "non-persistent cookie" and
will delete it on a condition like exiting a web browser application.
**note** the [cookie storage model