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: On another server I'm on we have moderator, "moderator", ""moderator", """moderator""", and """"moderator"""". Clearly this place should do that with administrator!
gollark: It's neat, there are lots of interesting people and discussions on here.
gollark: Since the tools are basically all free, you only need computer hardware most people have anyway, and most resources are online anyway.
gollark: Learning to program is, at least, one of the easier things to learn outside of formal education.
gollark: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/1519651900-20180226.png

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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.