PHP serialization format

The PHP serialization format is the serialization format used by the PHP programming language. The format can serialize PHP's primitive and compound types, and also properly serializes references.[1] The format was first introduced in PHP 4.[2]

In addition to PHP, the format is also used by some third-party applications that are often integrated with PHP applications, for example by Lucene/Solr.[3]

Syntax

The syntax generally follows the pattern of one-letter code of the variable type, followed by a colon, followed by the variable value, followed by a semicolon.

Type Serialization examples
Null N;
Boolean b:1;
b:0;
Integer i:685230;
i:-685230;
Floating point d:685230.15;
d:INF;
d:-INF;
d:NAN;
String s:6:"A to Z";
Associative array a:4:{i:0;b:1;i:1;N;i:2;d:-421000000;i:3;s:6:"A to Z";}
a:2:{i:42;b:1;s:6:"A to Z";a:3:{i:0;i:1;i:1;i:2;i:2;i:3;}}
Object O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:4:"John";d:3.14;s:4:"Jane";d:2.718;}
gollark: None in that, either, huh.
gollark: I'm currently running 10000 iterations. Since the implementation I'm using is single-threaded and CPUy, it won't be too fast.
gollark: Random thing: out of interest, I decided to run a bunch of game of life iterations on a 32*32 wrapping grid with half the initial cells alive. In several hundred runs, none got their cell count above the initial cell count.
gollark: 18:50:28.
gollark: Backup esobot.

References
  1. "Serialization". PHP Internals Book. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  2. "PHP: serialize - Manual". PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  3. "Response Writers | Apache Solr Reference Guide 8.5". lucene.apache.org. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
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