serialize

Example 1404. Basic use of serialize()

$quote = <<<_END_QUOTE_
"Almost at once the No. 37 Penpoint returned to the Featureless Expanse."<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;An Inanimate Tragedy, Edward Gorey
_END_QUOTE_;

$serialized_quote = serialize ($quote);

$unserialized_quote = unserialize ($serialized_quote);

print <<<_END_
<b>Before serialization:</b>
    <blockquote>$gorey_quote</blockquote>

<b>After serialization:</b>
    <blockquote>$serialized_quote</blockquote>

<b>After unserialization:</b>
    <blockquote>$unserialized_quote</blockquote>
_END_;

Example 1405. Use serialize() to cache post requests to web pages

<?
// Store most of the data from a post request in a database

// database connection code omitted for brevity
// ...

// We don't want to store the user's password, so unset that variable
unset ($HTTP_POST_VARS['password']);

// Serialize the $HTTP_POST_VARS array
// Use addslashes() to prevent any quotes in the serialized data from
// accidentally 'breaking' the quoting in the database query
$serialized_data = addslashes (serialize ($HTTP_POST_VARS));

// Insert the data into a MySQL database table
$query = "INSERT INTO post_cache (user, data, page, post_time)
    VALUES ('$user', '$serialized_data', '$PHP_SELF', NULL)";

@ mysql_query ($query)
    or die ("Query <b>$query</b> failed.
        This error message was generated: <b>" . mysql_error () . '</b>');

// ...

// Retrieve the post data from the database
$query = "SELECT user, data, post_time, page FROM post_cache
    ORDER BY post_time";

$result = @ mysql_query ($query)
    or die ("Query <b>$query</b> failed.
        This error message was generated: <b>" . mysql_error () . '</b>');

// Display the stored post data
while ($temp = mysql_fetch_row ($result))
{
    list ($user, $data, $post_time, $page) = $temp;

    // Strip the slashes from the serialized data
    // ... and convert it back into a PHP value
    $unserialized_data = unserialize (stripslashes ($data));

    print "User <b>$user</b> made the following post request to page
        <b>$page</b> on <b>$post_time</b>: <blockquote><pre>";

    print_r ($unserialized_data);

    print "</pre></blockquote><br/ >";
}
?>