How does the serialize() and unserialize() functions work in PHP and when should they be used?

The `serialize()` function in PHP converts a variable into a storable string representation, which can be stored in a file or a database. The `unserialize()` function does the opposite, converting a serialized string back into a PHP value. These functions are commonly used for storing complex data structures in a compact and portable format. 

// Serialize a variable
$data = ['foo' => 'bar', 'baz' => [1, 2, 3]];
$serialized_data = serialize($data);

// Store the serialized data in a file
file_put_contents('data.txt', $serialized_data);

// Retrieve the serialized data from the file and unserialize it
$serialized_data = file_get_contents('data.txt');
$unserialized_data = unserialize($serialized_data);

// Output the unserialized data
print_r($unserialized_data);

Keywords

serialize unserialize PHP data serialization data deserialization

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