NAME PHP::Serialization - simple flexible means of converting the output of PHP's serialize() into the equivalent Perl memory structure, and vice versa. SYNOPSIS use PHP::Serialization qw(serialize unserialize); my $encoded = serialize({ a => 1, b => 2}); my $hashref = unserialize($encoded); DESCRIPTION Provides a simple, quick means of serializing perl memory structures (including object data!) into a format that PHP can deserialize() and access, and vice versa. NOTE: Converts PHP arrays into Perl Arrays when the PHP array used exclusively numeric indexes, and into Perl Hashes then the PHP array did not. FUNCTIONS Exportable functions.. serialize($var,[optional $asString,[optional $sortHashes]]) Serializes the memory structure pointed to by $var, and returns a scalar value of encoded data. If the optional $asString is true, $var will be encoded as string if it is double or float. If the optional $sortHashes is true, all hashes will be sorted before serialization. NOTE: Will recursively encode objects, hashes, arrays, etc. SEE ALSO: ->encode() unserialize($encoded,[optional CLASS]) Deserializes the encoded data in $encoded, and returns a value (be it a hashref, arrayref, scalar, etc) representing the data structure serialized in $encoded_string. If the optional CLASS is specified, any objects are blessed into CLASS::$serialized_class. Otherwise, O bjects are blessed into PHP::Serialization::Object::$serialized_class. (which has no methods) SEE ALSO: ->decode() METHODS Functionality available if using the object interface.. decode($encoded_string,[optional CLASS]) Deserializes the encoded data in $encoded, and returns a value (be it a hashref, arrayref, scalar, etc) representing the data structure serialized in $encoded_string. If the optional CLASS is specified, any objects are blessed into CLASS::$serialized_class. Otherwise, Objects are blessed into PHP::Serialization::Object::$serialized_class. (which has no methods) SEE ALSO: unserialize() encode($reference,[optional $asString,[optional $sortHashes]]) Serializes the memory structure pointed to by $reference, and returns a scalar value of encoded data. If the optional $asString is true, $reference will be encoded as string if it is double or float. If the optional $sortHashes is true, all hashes will be sorted before serialization. NOTE: Will recursively encode objects, hashes, arrays, etc. SEE ALSO: serialize() TODO Support diffrent object types AUTHOR INFORMATION Copyright (c) 2003 Jesse Brown . All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. Various patches contributed by assorted authors on rt.cpan.org (as detailed in Changes file). Currently maintained by Tomas Doran . Rewritten to solve all known bugs by Bjørn-Olav Strand