Checking if a $_COOKIE value is empty or not

Question

I assign a cookie to a variable:

$user_cookie = $_COOKIE[\"user\"];

How can I check if the $user_cookie received some value or

Answer 1

If your cookie variable is an array:

if (!isset($_COOKIE['user']) || empty(unserialize($_COOKIE['user']))) {
    // cookie variable is not set or empty
}

If your cookie variable is not an array:

if (!isset($_COOKIE['user']) || empty($_COOKIE['user'])) {
    // cookie variable is not set or empty
}

I use this approach.