# The Serializable interface

(PHP 5 >= 5.1.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

## Introduction

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 have 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.

Warning

As of PHP 8.1.0, a class which implements Serializable without also implementing __serialize() and __unserialize() will generate a deprecation warning.

## Interface synopsis

interface Serializable {
/* Methods */
public serialize(): ?string
public unserialize(string `$data`): void
}

## Examples

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"

## Table of Contents

- Serializable::serialize — String representation of object
- Serializable::unserialize — Constructs the object

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