How can PHP functions like setcookie() be properly used to avoid fatal errors in code execution?

To avoid fatal errors when using PHP functions like setcookie(), it is important to ensure that the function is called before any output is sent to the browser. This is because setcookie() must be called before any HTML tags or whitespace in the PHP script. To prevent fatal errors, make sure to place setcookie() at the beginning of the script or use output buffering to delay sending any output until after the cookie is set. 

<?php
ob_start(); // Start output buffering

// Set the cookie before any output
setcookie("user", "John Doe", time() + 3600, "/");

ob_end_flush(); // Flush the output buffer
?>

Keywords

setcookie PHP functions fatal errors code execution error handling

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