What is PHP array serialization and deserialization? (Pictures + Videos)

This article mainly introduces you to PHP array serialization and deserialization related knowledge.

PHP serialization is a very common operation during the operation of our actual project. For example, when we want to store an array value in the database, we can serialize the array and then store the serialized value in the database. In fact, PHP serialized arrays convert complex array data types into strings, which facilitates array storage operations.

We serialize and deserialize PHP arrays, mainly using two functions, serialize and unserialize.

1. PHP array serialization: serialize

<?php
$data=[&#39;PHP&#39;,&#39;HTML&#39;,&#39;Java&#39;,&#39;Python&#39;];
echo serialize($data);

Here we create a simple array variable $data, and then we serialize the array through the serialize function operate.

The echo results are as follows:

a:4:{i:0;s:3:"PHP";i:1;s:4:"HTML";i:2;s:4:"Java";i:3;s:6:"Python";}

We will explain this serialized data to facilitate the understanding and learning of novice friends.

a: Represents the overall data type, here is array;

a: 4 in 4: Represents the number of array elements;

i: Represents int, integer type;

0: represents the subscript of the array element;

s: represents string, that is, the type of the array value;

s: 3 in 3: represents the array value length.

Note: serialize() returns a string. This string contains a byte stream representing value and can be stored anywhere. This facilitates storing or passing PHP values ​​without losing their type and structure.

2. PHP deserialization: unserialize

<?php
$data=[&#39;PHP&#39;,&#39;HTML&#39;,&#39;Java&#39;,&#39;Python&#39;];
$str=serialize($data);
var_dump(unserialize($str));

If we want to convert the serialized data into an array, we need to use the unserialize function .

Like the appeal code, the result after we deserialize the $str variable is as follows:

Note: unserialize() operates on a single serialized variable and converts it back to a PHP value.

Then this article introduces the operations of PHP array serialization and deserialization. If you want to learn more about PHP, you can follow the PHP video tutorial on the PHP Chinese website.

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