serialize Generates a storable representation of a value &reftitle.description; stringserialize mixedvalue Generates a storable representation of a value This is useful for storing or passing PHP values around without losing their type and structure. To make the serialized string into a PHP value again, use unserialize. &reftitle.parameters; value The value to be serialized. serialize handles all types, except the resource-type. You can even serialize arrays that contain references to itself. Circular references inside the array/object you are serializing will also be stored. Any other reference will be lost. When serializing objects, PHP will attempt to call the member function __sleep prior to serialization. This is to allow the object to do any last minute clean-up, etc. prior to being serialized. Likewise, when the object is restored using unserialize the __wakeup member function is called. Object's private members have the class name prepended to the member name; protected members have a '*' prepended to the member name. These prepended values have null bytes on either side. &reftitle.returnvalues; Returns a string containing a byte-stream representation of value that can be stored anywhere. &reftitle.examples; ]]> &reftitle.changelog; &Version; &Description; 4.0.7 The object serialization process was fixed. 4.0.0 When serializing an object, methods are not lost anymore. Please see the Serializing Objects for more information. &reftitle.notes; It is not possible to serialize PHP built-in objects. &reftitle.seealso; unserialize Serializing Objects