unserialize

(PHP 3>= 3.0.5, PHP 4 >= 4.0b1)

unserialize --  Creates a PHP value from a stored representation

Description

mixed unserialize (string str)

unserialize() takes a single serialized variable (see serialize()) and converts it back into a PHP value. The converted value is returned, and can be an integer, double, string, array or object. If an object was serialized, its methods are not preserved in the returned value.

Note: In PHP 3, methods are not preserved when unserializing a serialized object. PHP 4 removes that limitation and restores both properties and methods. Please see the Serializing Objects section of Classes and Objects or more information.

Example 1. unserialize() example


// Here, we use unserialize() to load session data from a database
// into $session_data.    This example complements the one described
// with serialize().

$conn = odbc_connect ("webdb", "php", "chicken");
$stmt = odbc_prepare ($conn, "SELECT data FROM sessions WHERE id = ?");
$sqldata = array ($PHP_AUTH_USER);
if (!odbc_execute ($stmt, &$sqldata) || !odbc_fetch_into ($stmt, &$tmp)) {
    // if the execute or fetch fails, initialize to empty array
    $session_data = array();
} else {
    // we should now have the serialized data in $tmp[0].
    $session_data = unserialize ($tmp[0]);
    if (!is_array ($session_data)) {
    // something went wrong, initialize to empty array
    $session_data = array();
    }
}
      

See Also: serialize().