serialize — Generates a storable representation of a value

string serialize ( mixed $value )

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().

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 serialize()ing 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.

Return Values

Returns a string containing a byte-stream representation of value that can be stored anywhere.

Examples

Example 2594. serialize() example

// $session_data contains a multi-dimensional array with session
// information for the current user. We use serialize() to store
// it in a database at the end of the request.

$conn = odbc_connect("webdb", "php", "chicken");
$stmt = odbc_prepare($conn,
"UPDATE sessions SET data = ? WHERE id = ?");
$sqldata = array (serialize($session_data), $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER']);
if (!odbc_execute($stmt, &$sqldata)) {
$stmt = odbc_prepare($conn,
"INSERT INTO sessions (id, data) VALUES(?, ?)");
if (!odbc_execute($stmt, &$sqldata)) {
/* Something went wrong.. */
}
}
?>

move_uploaded_file — Moves an uploaded file to a new location

bool move_uploaded_file ( string $filename, string $destination )

This function checks to ensure that the file designated by filename is a valid upload file (meaning that it was uploaded via PHP's HTTP POST upload mechanism). If the file is valid, it will be moved to the filename given by destination.

This sort of check is especially important if there is any chance that anything done with uploaded files could reveal their contents to the user, or even to other users on the same system.

Parameters

filename

The filename of the uploaded file.

destination

The destination of the moved file.

Return Values

If filename is not a valid upload file, then no action will occur, and move_uploaded_file() will return FALSE.

If filename is a valid upload file, but cannot be moved for some reason, no action will occur, and move_uploaded_file() will return FALSE. Additionally, a warning will be issued.

Notes

Note: move_uploaded_file() is both safe mode and open_basedir aware. However, restrictions are placed only on the destination path as to allow the moving of uploaded files in which filename may conflict with such restrictions. move_uploaded_file() ensures the safety of this operation by allowing only those files uploaded through PHP to be moved.

Warning

If the destination file already exists, it will be overwritten.

basename — Returns filename component of path

string basename ( string $path [, string $suffix] )

Given a string containing a path to a file, this function will return the base name of the file.

Parameters

path

A path.

On Windows, both slash (/) and backslash (\) are used as directory separator character. In other environments, it is the forward slash (/).

suffix

If the filename ends in suffix this will also be cut off.

Return Values

Returns the base name of the given path.

$path = "/home/httpd/html/index.php";
$file = basename($path); // $file is set to "index.php"
$file = basename($path, ".php"); // $file is set to "index"
?>

glob-Find pathnames matching a pattern

array glob ( string $pattern [, int $flags] )

The glob() function searches for all the pathnames matching pattern according to the rules used by the libc glob() function, which is similar to the rules used by common shells.

Parameters

pattern

The pattern. No tilde expansion or parameter substitution is done.

flags

Valid flags:

• GLOB_MARK - Adds a slash to each item returned
• GLOB_NOSORT - Return files as they appear in the directory (no sorting)
• GLOB_NOCHECK - Return the search pattern if no files matching it were found
• GLOB_NOESCAPE - Backslashes do not quote metacharacters
• GLOB_BRACE - Expands {a,b,c} to match 'a', 'b', or 'c'
• GLOB_ONLYDIR - Return only directory entries which match the pattern
• GLOB_ERR - Stop on read errors (like unreadable directories), by default errors are ignored.

Return Values

Returns an array containing the matched files/directories, an empty array if no file matched or FALSE on error.