Serialization

Syntax

• string serialize ( mixed $value )

Parameters

Parameter | Details |

|———–|———| | value | The value to be serialized. serialize() handles all types, except the resource-type. You can even serialize() arrays that contain references to itself. Circular references inside the array/object you are serializing will also be stored. Any other reference will be lost. When serializing objects, PHP will attempt to call the member function __sleep() prior to serialization. This is to allow the object to do any last minute clean-up, etc. prior to being serialized. Likewise, when the object is restored using unserialize() the __wakeup() member function is called. Object’s private members have the class name prepended to the member name; protected members have a ‘*’ prepended to the member name. These prepended values have null bytes on either side. |

Remarks

Serialization uses following string structures:

[..] are placeholders.

Type | Structure | —–– | ——— | String | s:[size of string]:[value] | Integer | i:[value] | Double | d:[value] | Boolean | b:[value (true = 1 and false = 0)] | Null | N | Object | O:[object name size]:[object name]:[object size]:{[property name string definition]:[property value definition];(repeated for each property)} | Array | a:[size of array]:{[key definition];[value definition];(repeated for each key value pair)} |