Expires

Meaning

The Expires attribute sets an absolute expiry date and time, written as an HTTP date in GMT, such as Expires=Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:28:00 GMT. When that moment passes, the browser deletes the cookie. Because it is a clock time, it depends on the visitor's device clock being roughly right, so a wrong date can make a cookie vanish at once or last far too long. If both Expires and Max-Age are present, Max-Age wins. A date in the past removes a cookie. See also: Max-Age, Persistent cookie, Session cookie, the guide "Domain, Path, Expires and Max-Age Explained".