title: Definite guide to valid Cookie values
body: <p>I know there are other questions but they seem to have answers which are assumptions rather than being definitive.</p>
  
  <p>My limited understanding is that cookie values are:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>semi-colons are already used to separate cookies attributes within a single cookie.</li>
  <li>equals signs are used to separate cookie names and values</li>
  <li>colons are used to separate multiple cookies within a header.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Are there any other "special" characters ? </p>
  
  <p>Some other q/a suggest that one base64 encodes the value but this does of course may include equals signs which of course are not valid.</p>
  
  <p>i have also seen some suggestions that values may be quoted this however leads to other questions.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>do the special characters need to be quoted ?</li>
  <li>do quoted values support the usual backslash escaping mechanisms.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>RFC
  I read a few RFCs including some of the many cookie RFCS but i am still unsure as there is cross reference to another RFC etc with no definitive simple explaination or sample that "answers" my query. </p>
  
  <p><em>Hopefully no one will say read the RFC because the question becomes which RFC...?</em></p>
  
  <p>I think i have also read that different browsers have slightly different rules so hopefully please note this in your answers if this matters. </p>