(PHP 5 >= 5.1.0, PHP 7)
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.
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"