create cookie and read in cookie in on submit; creating favorite list

I guess my main goal is to have a user select an item and it saves 4 items in like a favorites list.

I have a page that has 5 checkboxes and also calles a include file.

The checkboxes are on the left side of a table and the right side is the include file which is basically outputting what is in a cookie.

Can I do the following, if a user checks say item1 and item3 and when they hit the submit button I want the items saved to a cookie(s) then on reload (calls itself) the checkboxes are reset and my include then displays item1 and item3 on the right side.

I am not sure this is possible with php. I can get this to work if I hit the refresh button after I hit submit.

Thanks for any info/advice in advance.

cookies get written to, but they won't get noticed unless you refresh. no way around it

use sessions instead