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    Serialize: PHP's Serialization Format

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    Disha Thorat
    Serialize generates a storable representation of a value by converting it into a string that can be stored and used to recreate the value later. PHP uses different serialization formats for different data types, including numeric strings for simple types, curly braces for arrays, and custom handling for objects using either the object's properties or by implementing the Serializable interface. Classes that implement Serializable no longer use __sleep() and __wakeup() and instead define serialize() and unserialize() methods to handle custom serialization.

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    Serialize: PHP's Serialization Format

    Uploaded by

    Disha Thorat
    32 views5 pages
    Serialize generates a storable representation of a value by converting it into a string that can be stored and used to recreate the value later. PHP uses different serialization formats for different data types, including numeric strings for simple types, curly braces for arrays, and custom handling for objects using either the object's properties or by implementing the Serializable interface. Classes that implement Serializable no longer use __sleep() and __wakeup() and instead define serialize() and unserialize() methods to handle custom serialization.

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    Serialize generates a storable representation of a value by converting it into a string that can be stored and used to recreate the value later. PHP uses different serialization formats for different data types, including numeric strings for simple types, curly braces for arrays, and custom handling for objects using either the object's properties or by implementing the Serializable interface. Classes that implement Serializable no longer use __sleep() and __wakeup() and instead define serialize() and unserialize() methods to handle custom serialization.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    32 views5 pages

    Serialize: PHP's Serialization Format

    Uploaded by

    Disha Thorat
    Serialize generates a storable representation of a value by converting it into a string that can be stored and used to recreate the value later. PHP uses different serialization formats for different data types, including numeric strings for simple types, curly braces for arrays, and custom handling for objects using either the object's properties or by implementing the Serializable interface. Classes that implement Serializable no longer use __sleep() and __wakeup() and instead define serialize() and unserialize() methods to handle custom serialization.

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    Serialize

    serialize — Generates a storable representation of a value

    Generates a storable representation of a value.

    This is useful for storing or passing PHP values around without losing their type and
    structure.

    To make the serialized string into a PHP value again, use unserialize().

    Note:
    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.

    PHP’s serialization format

    You probably already know how the output of serialize() roughly looks like: It has
    some kind of type specifier (like s or i), followed by a colon, followed by the actual data,
    followed by a semicolon. As such the serialization format for the “simple” types looks as
    follows:

    NULL: N;

    true: b:1;

    false: b:0;

    42: i:42;

    42.3789: d:42.378900000000002;

    ^-- Precision controlled by serialize_precision ini setting


    (default 17)

    "foobar": s:6:"foobar";

    ^-- strlen("foobar")

    resource: i:0;
    ^-- Resources can't really be serialized, so they just get the
    value int(0)

    For arrays a list of key-value pairs is contained in curly braces:

    [10, 11, 12]: a:3:{i:0;i:10;i:1;i:11;i:2;i:12;}

    ^-- count([10, 11, 12])

    v-- key v-- value

    ["foo" => 4, "bar" => 2]: a:2:{s:3:"foo";i:4;s:3:"bar";i:2;}

    ^-- key ^-- value

    For objects there are two serialization mechanisms: The first one simply serializes the
    object properties just like it is done for arrays. This mechanism uses O as the type
    specifier.

    Consider the following class:

    <?php

    class Test {

    public $public = 1;

    protected $protected = 2;

    private $private = 3;

    This is serialized as follows:

    v-- strlen("Test") v-- property v-- value

    O:4:"Test":3:{s:6:"public";i:1;s:12:"\0*\0protected";i:2;s:13:"\0Test\
    0private";i:3;}

    ^-- property ^-- value ^-- property


    ^-- value
    The \0 in the above serialization string are NUL bytes. As you can see private and
    protected members are serialized with rather peculiar names: Private properties are
    prefixed with \0ClassName\0 and protected properties with \0*\0. These names are
    the result of name mangling, which is something we’ll cover in a later section.

    The second mechanism allows for custom serialization formats. It delegates the actual
    serialization to the serialize method of the Serializable interface and uses
    the C type specifier. For example consider this class:

    <?php

    class Test2 implements Serializable {

    public function serialize() {

    return "foobar";

    public function unserialize($str) {

    // ...

    It will be serialized as follows:

    C:5:"Test2":6:{foobar}

    ^-- strlen("foobar")

    In this case PHP will just put the result of the Serializable::serialize() call


    inside the curly braces.

    The Serializable interface 


    (PHP 5 >= 5.1.0, PHP 7)

    Introduction 

    Interface for customized serializing.


    Classes that implement this interface no longer support __sleep() and __wakeup(). The
    method serialize is called whenever an instance needs to be serialized. This does not
    invoke __destruct() or has any other side effect unless programmed inside the method.
    When the data is unserialized the class is known and the appropriate unserialize()
    method is called as a constructor instead of calling __construct(). If you need to execute
    the standard constructor you may do so in the method.

    Note, that when an old instance of a class that implements this interface now, which had
    been serialized before the class implemeted the interface, is unserialized, __wakeup() is
    called instead of the serialize method, what might be useful for migration purposes.

    Interface synopsis
    Serializable {

    /* Methods */

    abstract public string serialize ( void )

    abstract public void unserialize ( string $serialized )

    Example #1 Basic usage

    <?php
    class obj implements Serializable {
        private $data;
        public function __construct() {
            $this->data = "My private data";
        }
        public function serialize() {
            return serialize($this->data);
        }
        public function unserialize($data) {
            $this->data = unserialize($data);
        }
        public function getData() {
            return $this->data;
        }
    }

    $obj = new obj;
    $ser = serialize($obj);

    var_dump($ser);

    $newobj = unserialize($ser);
    var_dump($newobj->getData());
    ?>

    The above example will output something similar to:

    string(38) "C:3:"obj":23:{s:15:"My private data";}"


    string(15) "My private data"

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