How can cookies or IPs be utilized as alternative methods to track user interactions for rating functionalities in PHP?

When tracking user interactions for rating functionalities in PHP, cookies or IPs can be utilized as alternative methods to track users. Cookies can store unique identifiers for each user, while IPs can be used to identify users based on their IP address. By using cookies or IPs, we can track user interactions and ensure that each user's rating is accurately recorded.

// Using cookies to track user interactions for rating functionalities
if(isset($_COOKIE['user_id'])){
    $user_id = $_COOKIE['user_id'];
} else {
    $user_id = uniqid(); // generate a unique user ID
    setcookie('user_id', $user_id, time() + (86400 * 30), "/"); // set cookie for 30 days
}

// Using IPs to track user interactions for rating functionalities
$user_ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']; // get user's IP address