Session Cookie

Definition - What does Session Cookie mean?

A session cookie contains information that is stored in a temporary memory location and then subsequently deleted after the session is completed or the web browser is closed. This cookie stores information that the user has inputted and tracks the movements of the user within the website.

A session cookie is also known as transient cookie.

[Free Harvard Research Report] Getting Workers More Comfortable With Technology Beyond Productivity Gains

Techopedia explains Session Cookie

When this cookie is created by an application, a date is not set, unlike a persistent cookie which will have an expiration date attached to it. Because a session cookie is temporal, it does not accumulate information from the user’s PC or the user’s identity. The information it stores is in the form of a session identification that will not, in any case, relate personally to the user.

A common example of a session cookie in action is in the shopping cart feature found on most online shopping or e-commerce websites. The session cookie stores the items that the user has added to his cart so that when a new pages is opened, the items in the cart remain persistent. Without a session cookie, when a user went to the checkout page, everything would disappear from the shopping cart because the new page would not recognize prior activities on the website.

The website itself is unable to do track a user's movement on the page and treats each new page request as a new request from a new user.

The session cookie will be deleted when the expiration date is reached or when a user or application manually deletes it.